Ultrahigh rate character input unit of portable telephone

ABSTRACT

Letter input rate of a conventional cell phone is low because only thumb is used for inputting a letter. When the inventive cell phone provided with one joystick, two shift keys and twenty six keys on the opposite side faces is grasped by both hands and ten fingers are used, any one of twenty six alphabetical letters can be inputted by single push operation without switching the shift key and letters can be inputted at super-high rate by touch typing. A novel and epoch-making field as the communication means of a cell phone is developed and convenience of user can be enhanced significantly.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a letter input device for a cell phoneand a letter input device for a portable device having a communicationfunction used as a data communication terminal.

BACKGROUND ART

In accordance with the recent development of data communicationtechniques, there are cell phones provided with a function fortransmitting and receiving e-mail or PDA (personal digital assistant)devices equipped with a letter input device with a data communicationfunction.

FIG. 1 illustrates a front view of a conventional general purpose cellphone. This cell phone is comprised of a display 02, an antenna 03, aloudspeaker 04, a microphone 05, a power switch 10, various mode switchkeys 11, a joy key 12, letter keys 17, and a main body 16.

As shown in FIG. 1, the cell phone is generally equipped with abouttwelve letter keys, about four various mode conversion keys, and one joykey so that letters can be inputted through a same flat surface as adisplay (information display section).

A PDA device also has a similar number of keys on the same flat surfaceas a display. Some PDA devices have fewer keys than those of cell phoneswhile other PDA devices have fifty keys or more as the key board of apersonal computer does.

FIG. 2 illustrates a front view of a letter input device for aconventional folding type cell phone. This letter input device has atthe center section thereof a hinge mechanism 14 by which the device isconfigured to be folded so that a display and a key board section opposeto each other when the device is not used. Such a mechanism allows thedevice to be smaller and thus to be conveniently carried.

A cell phone and a PDA device both have letter keys on a same flatsurface as a display. Alternatively, the foldable type device, as shownin FIG. 2, in which one flat surface having the letter keys and anotherflat surface having the display can be folded when the device is notused has an angle of gradient between the display and the key boardsection as in a notebook computer. Both the devices shown in FIGS. 1 and2, however, have the key board section on the flat surface only whichcan be seen in front of a user.

When letters are inputted using a cell phone, a right-handed user holdsthe cell phone with the right hand to move the display to the front ofthe user's eyes, thereby moving the right hand thumb to push one key toanother, as shown in FIG. 3.

When the user holds the cell phone by the right hand to operate theright hand thumb to push the keys for letter input, the user's left handis free and thus can be arbitrarily used for other tasks (e.g., hangingon a strap in a train or railcar or holding a bag).

Of the PDA devices, small types thereof which can be operated with onehand are used in a similar way as for a cell phone. When a left-handeduser uses such a device, then the user uses the hand fingers opposite tothose used by the right-handed user to push the keys.

A large PDA device is placed on a desk so that the fingers of both handsare used to input letters, as in the case of the key board of a personalcomputer. This prevents one hand from arbitrarily being used for othertasks and also requires the use of the desk or knees. For a cell phoneor a small PDA device which is held by one hand to be operated with thefingers of the same hand, such a device requires the one hand holdingthe device to use the thumb to sequentially operate about twelve keys onthe key board section in front of the user for the letter input. Thus,the rate at which text is prepared is determined by the rate at whichthe thumb pushes each of the keys for the letter input.

The key board section provided on the front surface of the cell phonehas about twelve keys to which twenty-six alphabet letters A to Z andten numeric characters are assigned. On average, one key is assignedwith three types of alphabet letters and one numeric character.

A letter input rate when only the thumb is used to input letters isabout one-twentieth slower than that obtained when ten fingers of bothhands are used for inputting letters as in a personal computer. Such aslow speed prevents even a technique enabling a faster datacommunication rate from being sufficiently utilized because the letterinput rate is not improved. This is due to the fact that only one thumbof one hand is used, which requires the thumb to manage too many keysand thus requires the thumb to move in an excessively broad range. Thisis also due to the fact that the excessively broad range in which thethumb must move leads to an extreme difficulty of touch typing (i.e., anoperation in which a user presses keys without looking at the keys theuser pushes while looking at a display on which the letterscorresponding to the pushed keys are displayed). The use of only thethumb for letter input also requires the user to alternately switch theuser's field of view to the display and the key board on the frontsurface having twelve keys, which causes not only a slower input ratebut also an increased amount of input errors.

Thus, it is desired to allow cell phones and small PDA devices to have afaster letter input rate. It is also desired to provide such a devicethat does not always require only one hand to input letters when using acell phone in the case where both hands are free so that both hands areallowed to be used for the letter input, thereby providing a furtherfaster letter input rate. Such a device is desired by all users.

If the letter input rate of a cell phone can be fast as that of apersonal computer on a desk, then a demand for business communicationthrough the cell phone can be drastically expanded.

At present, a cell phone or a PDA device having such letter keys is notmarketed. Under the present situation, the following patents arepublished as the general technical level of this field:

-   JP2001-022501;-   JP09-083402;-   JP2000-59483;-   JP2000-151774;-   JP2001-060999;-   EP104709;-   JP2001-224288;-   JP10-224288;-   JP06-274257;-   U.S. Pat. No. 4,791,408;-   U.S. Pat. No. 4,360,892;-   U.S. Pat. No. 5,281,966;-   JP2000-244623; and-   JP2000-27653.

All of these patents only attempt to provide a faster letter input rateby providing five keys on a side face so that up to five fingers of onehand can be used for the letter input or only try to eliminate thelimitation of the number of keys due to a small space of the frontsurface of a cell phone when information is accessed using the cellphone by providing about four auxiliary keys on the side face so thatabout twelve keys on the front surface can play an increased number ofroles.

There are a number of other publications of patent applications whichtry to provide a faster letter input rate of a cell phone by using onlyabout twelve keys on a front surface by the contrivance of software.Neither of the patent applications, however, is effective.

At present, such techniques as suggested in the above publications arenot practically marketed. The reason is that the letter input rate of acell phone having the above-described side face keys and/or side faceauxiliary keys does not remarkably faster than that of acurrently-marketed product having on the front surface thereof a keyboard.

It should be noted that an external key board is a hot-selling productby which a cell phone and a JIS key board are connected through a cableas disclosed in JP2000-244623.

JP2000-27653 discloses a technique wherein the little fingers of bothhands are fixed to a PDA device to hold it. The published patentapplications described above indicate the difficulty to input letterswith the current cell phones.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

The current techniques as described above do not provide an idea ofallowing a main body of a cell phone to be held by both hands so thatten fingers of both hands are used to input letters and do not get outof a mere idea of the operation with only one hand. In other words, inthese conventional techniques, it has not been noticed that the use often fingers of both hands provides a remarkably faster letter inputrate. When ten fingers of both hands are used to input letters to arecent small cell phone which can be held with one hand, contrivance isrequired as to where and in what manner the hands should be positioned.

An idea of simultaneously using ten fingers for a cell phone is requiredbefore trying to dispose ten fingers on the cell phone.

In the above conventional techniques, it has not been noticed that theuse of both hands for holding a cell phone can provide the function offingers in which each finger of the ten fingers differentiates aplurality of (i.e., two or more) keys (six or more keys in the case of athumb) to press the key. In other words, an idea according to the aboveconventional techniques in which a cell phone is held with one hand toallow the fingers of the hand holding the cell phone to press a keysubstantially prevents a forefinger, a middle finger, a fourth finger,and a little finger of the hand from differentiating the neighboring twoor more keys arranged in the direction of the order of the fingers. Incontrast, the present inventors further developed their idea and foundthat a frame is provided between the keys. According to the presentinvention, this frame is higher than the keys so that the one handholding a cell phone allows the forefinger, the middle finger, thefourth finger, and the little finger to differentiate the neighboringtwo or more keys arranged in the direction of the order of the fingersto push a key.

In addition, if both hands are used to hold a cell phone to use the tenfingers of both hands, one may find another problem in that whenallowing a dominant hand (i.e., one hand whose fingers can move fasterthan those of the other hand) to provide a number of delicateoperations, letter input means of a cell phone used by a right-handeduser is provided at a position different from that at which the letterinput means of a cell phone used by a left-handed user is provided, andthat thus, it is difficult to use a single type of cell phone for bothof a right-handed user and a left-handed user. Alternatively, aleft-handed user will come to find that he or she uses a cell phone usedby right-handed users without modification to train his or her righthand fast enough to use the cell phone.

The cell phones, which were conventionally started with a function oftelephone, have been generally bound by a mere idea of the operationwith one hand in spite of the current addition of an e-mail function.The reason is that they do not discover the fact that a user inputting atext for an e-mail to a cell phone very frequently has both hands whichcan be freely used. Alternatively, the reason may be that theyconsidered that a cell phone held by both hands causes the right handfingers and the left hand fingers to be superposed on the same positionon the cell phone surface, thereby preventing the user from pushing tenkeys.

In other words, the present inventors solved the above problems involvedin the conventional techniques by noting the fact that when a userinputs a text for an e-mail to a cell phone, it is very often that theuser is in a waiting room, in a vehicle, sitting on a bench, or standingat one point while both hands can be freely used.

FIG. 17 illustrates a cell phone according to the present inventionwhich is held by both hands so that ten fingers of both hands can beused to input letters to the cell phone. FIG. 17 illustrates asuper-high rate letter input device for a cell phone which uses thefunction of fingers in which both hands allow each finger of the tenfingers to differentiate a plurality of (i.e., two or more) keys (six ormore keys in the case of a thumb) to press a key.

According to the present invention, a main body of a cell phone has asubstantially rectanguler parallelepiped shape in which faces havingnarrower widths including the longest edge line both have thereon keysso that the thumbs and the respective remaining four fingers of bothhands hold the cell phone. This allows a rotatory force by the pressingforce and the reaction force by the keys on both faces to be minimized,thereby providing the cell phone with a structure by which the cellphone is easily held and the keys thereon are pushed with an extremeease.

Also according to the present invention, the cell phone is held by aright hand and a left hand such that the right hand and the left handare shifted in the front-to-rear direction of the cell phone. Thisallows the ten fingers to be efficiently positioned over the entirety ofthe cell phone's side faces, thereby to enable pressing a number ofkeys.

Also according to the present invention, the main body of the cell phonehas the substantially rectanguler parallelepiped shape in which bothfaces having narrower widths including the longest edge line both havethereon keys. This allows a conventional key board on the front surfaceto be omitted. This provides an important advantage in that a displayarea of the front surface can be increased and thus the amount ofinformation which can be checked at one glance also can be increased.When the cell phone is of a folding type, the conventional key boardsection area of the lower main body can be used as a display area.

FIG. 21 illustrates one type of cell phone according to the presentinvention which can be used by both of right-handed users andleft-handed users.

The cell phone shown in FIG. 17 has, on the left side face thereof, atotal of eighteen neighboring keys starting from 83-1 and 83-2, arrangedin a matrix of nine rows and two columns. The cell phone shown in FIG.17 also has, on the right side face thereof, a joy key 82 and a total ofsixteen neighboring keys starting from 91-1 and 91-2, arranged in amatrix of eight rows and two columns. The cell phone front face hasthereon a right to control letter input-key 37 and conventional cellphone components such as a power switch 10, mode selectors 11, and a joykey 12.

FIG. 18 illustrates a schematic view of the cell phone of FIG. 17 whichis being inputted with letters with ten fingers of both hands.

FIG. 18 shows the cell phone held by a right-handed user. As can be seenfrom FIG. 18, the cell phone includes the joy key 82 and shift keys 91-1and 91-2 or other components by which the fast-moving right hand canperform a number of delicate tasks.

As shown in FIG. 18, on the right side face of the cell phone, the joykey 82 and six keys of 91-1, 91-2, 92-1, 91-2, 93-1, and 93-2 are usedby the right hand thumb; on the left side face thereof, four keys of83-1, 83-2, 84-1, and 84-2 are used by the right hand forefinger; keysof 85-1 and 85-2 are used by the right hand middle finger; keys of 86-1and 86-2 are used by the right hand fourth finger; and keys of 87-1 and87-2 are used by the right hand little finger.

On the left side face of the cell phone, six keys of 88-1, 88-2, 89-1,89-2, 90-1, and 90-2 are used by the left hand thumb; on the right sideface thereof, four keys of 94-1, 94-2, 95-1, and 95-2 are used by theleft hand forefinger; 96-1 and 96-2 are used by the left hand middlefinger; 97-1 and 97-2 are used by the left hand fourth finger; and 98-1and 98-2 are used by the left hand little finger.

When a conventional cell phone is operated, as shown in FIG. 3, only onehand thumb is used to operate twelve keys on the flat surface providedin the same direction of the display. For example, when twenty-sixEnglish alphabet letters are to be inputted to the cell phone, threeletters are inputted with one key. Specifically, when an alphabetcapital letter of “C” is inputted as shown in FIG. 1, a key 17-1 for analphabet letter of “A” must be continuously pushed three times. When analphabet lower case of “c” is inputted to the cell phone on the otherhand, the key 17-1 for “A” must be continuously pushed six times or amode selector switch for inputting a lower case must be switched with athumb before continuously pushing the key 17-1 for “A” three times.Thereafter, when another alphabet capital letter is desired to beinputted to the cell phone, the mode selector switch must be pushedagain to return to the previous mode.

In contrast, in the present invention, a capital letter “C” is inputted,as shown in FIG. 18, the key 84-1 on the left side may be pushed onetime while the key 91-2 2 on the right side face is being pushed by theright hand thumb as shown in FIG. 17. And when an alphabet lower case“c” is inputted, the key 84-1 on the left side face may be pushed onetime while no keys are pushed with the right hand thumb.

The present invention has a particularly superior characteristic in thatit is not required to switch the keys on the right side face to beoperated by the right hand thumb when the remaining nine fingers areused to push twenty-six keys, thereby allowing any one letter oftwenty-six alphabet letters to be inputted.

The keys on the right side face to be operated with the right hand thumbare switched for three types of an alphabet capital letter, a lowercase, and a numeric character/sign/function. In this embodiment, numericcharacter/sign/function is inputted while the key 91-1 is being pushedwith the right hand thumb.

When a user desires to input an English text including numericcharacters to the cell phone, the user has only to pay attention todifferentiate an operation in which no keys are pressed with the righthand thumb; and an operation in which two keys (e.g., keys 91-1 and92-2) are pressed.

The three kinds of alphabet lower cases, capital letters, and numericcharacter/sign/function may be allocated by software to any of anoperation in which no keys are pressed by a right hand thumb; anoperation in which the key 91-1 is pressed; and an operation in whichthe key 91-2 is pressed.

The frequency at which lower cases, capital letters, and numericcharacter/sign/function are used is different depending on the detailsof a task done by a user. Thus, the software for key allocation may bedesigned so that the keys on the cell phone can be set by a user withthe various mode keys 11.

The above setting with the mode keys 11 is not frequently changed oncethe user has finished the setting.

As described above, the present invention has the characteristic in thatit is not required to switch the keys on the right side face to beoperated by the right hand thumb when twenty-six alphabet letters areinputted. Such a characteristic also provides a revolutionary advantagewhen Japanese language is inputted with the Roman character inputmethod. Specifically, a Roman character input method for Japaneselanguage does not use the seven alphabet letters of “C.”, “F”, “J”, “L”,“Q”, “V”, and “X” and thus allows nineteen alphabet letters to be usedfor the input of “Kana characters” of Japanese language. As a result,the remaining seven letters can be allocated to such keys that arefrequently used for Japanese language (e.g., keys responsible for “,”,“∘”, “RET”, “DEL”, “Space”, and “BackSpace”, or keys responsible for thecollection of special characters). This allows all “Hiragana” to becontinuously inputted without pushing the mode switch key and alsoallows the right hand thumb to always stay at the joy key so that theright hand thumb can be exclusively used for “Kanji (Chinese character)”conversion, thereby providing a super-high rate letter input.

In addition, various mode keys 11 are used for a mode switching and thekeys 92-1 and 92-2 are used as a shift key. This provides a direct inputof the fifty-one Japanese Hiragana characters without using the Romancharacter input method. In this way, the present invention can beapplied to any language including English and Japanese so long as thelanguage allows the conversion with other twenty-six alphabet letters orother twenty-six characters.

When alphabet is used for input, a single key can be used for a pair ofa capital letter and a lower case. This allows the fingers to learn theinput system with an extreme ease, thus requiring the minimum period oftime for performing a touch typing with the cell phone.

Specifically, the use of the present invention provides about twentytimes faster letter input rate as compared to that obtained by a keylayout using only one hand thumb for the letter input.

Naturally, in the case where a cell phone is used for a simple task ofinputting a telephone number in which numeric characters of 1, 2, . . .9, and 0, can be inputted by pushing the key 91-1 with the right handthumb simultaneously with other side face keys with other fingers, asshown in FIG. 17.

While the key 91-1 is being pushed with the right hand thumb, theremaining sixteen keys can be allocated to signs or functions requiredfor the input of English text (e.g., “BackSpace”, “DEL”, “ENT”, “.”, and“,”).

The keys 92-1, 92-2, 93-1, and 93-2 on the right side face key are notrequired when both hands are used for the input of an English text.Thus, these keys may be omitted or may be allocated to “BackSpace”,“DEL”, “ENT”, “.”, “,” or the like to increase the rate at which anEnglish text is inputted.

It is noted, however, that the use of the keys 92-1, 92-2, 93-1, and93-2 as a mode switch key provides a faster Japanese input rate becauseof the fact that the input of Japanese language requires a total ofseven types of characters (i.e., “Hiragana”, “Katakana” of full size andhalf size, numeric characters of full size and half size, and sign offull size and half size).

When the cell phone according to the present invention is used by aleft-handed user, the left-handed user only has to replace the righthand with the left hand shown in FIG. 18 for using a cell phone providedwith letter input means all in the symmetrical form in which the letterinput means on the left side face of FIG. 17 is totally replaced withthat on the right face of FIG. 17. In this case, the left-handed useroperates the joy key 82 with the left hand thumb. Alternatively, it isalso possible to train the left-handed user so that the user can use theright hand fingers as with right-handed users to use the cell phoneshown in FIG. 17.

Under a condition where both hands can be used, the cell phone is usedas shown in FIG. 18. When a user must use only one hand (e.g., when auser hangs by the strap of a train), then the user can push the key ofletter input control 37 to switch to the one hand mode. This use methodis a mere auxiliary one for an emergency.

If the manner of inputting e-mail text to every cell phone with bothhands can be considered to become common sense in the future, the onehand mode may be eliminated.

When a cell phone is used as a mere telephone, then it is designed toprovide a mode setting with the mode keys 11 so that ten numericcharacters are allocated to ten keys of the combination of a matrix ofnine rows and one column on the left side face (i.e., keys 83-2, 84-2,85-2, 86-2, 87-2, 88-2, 89-2, 90-2, and 99-2) and the key 91-1 on theright side face or ten numeric characters are allocated to ten keys ofthe combination of a matrix of eight rows and one column on the leftside face (i.e., 83-2, 84-2, 85-2, 86-2, 87-2, 88-2, 89-2, and 90-2) andthe keys 91-1 and 91-2 on the right side face. This allows a phone callto be made with only one hand.

It is noted, however, that most of the recent cell phones have memoriesfor storing telephone numbers to be called so that the stored telephonenumbers can be selected by the joy key 12, requiring very few tasks inwhich the cell phone is used as a mere telephone by which a telephonenumber is manually inputted. Thus, it is considered that the manualinput to the cell phone requiring more two or three seconds does notcause any inconvenience to the users.

FIG. 19 illustrates the cell phone according to the present invention ofFIG. 17 being used with the one hand mode.

The one hand mode herein means a mode where the eight keys on the leftside face of 87-1, 87-2, 88-1, 88-2, 2, 90-1, 90-2, 99-1, and 99-2, thejoy keys 82, and the eight keys on the right side face of the keys 91-1,91-2, 92-1, 92-2, 93-1, 93-2, 94-1, and 94-2 are provided with the rightof controlling the input of letters; and the remaining ten keys on theleft side face of the keys 83-1, 83-2, 84-1, 84-2, 85-1, 85-2, 86-1,86-2, 89-1, and 89-2 and the eight keys on the right side face of 95-1,95-2, 96-1, 96-2, 97-1, 97-2, 98-1, and 98-2 are disabled. In FIG. 19,every two keys on the left side face are allocated to a forefinger, amiddle finger, a fourth finger, and a little finger. The reason is thatthe mechanism shown in FIG. 30 in which a frame provided between keys ishigher than the keys allows the user holding the cell phone with theright hand to input letters to the cell phone so that these four fingerscan differentiate the allocated two keys to press an appropriate key.The right hand thumb provides a delicate differentiation and thus isallocated with a number of keys. Even in the one hand mode, at leastabout four times faster letter input rate than that obtained by a keylayout using only a one hand thumb can be afforded.

The function of the right to control letter input-key 37 may be enoughand the key may be replaced by other mode switch keys 11. Alternatively,the function of the right to control letter input-key 37 also may beplayed by the simultaneous push of a plurality of keys or a push of apredetermined key for a fixed period of time.

Cross-sections X-X shown in FIG. 30 illustrates the letter input meansdesigned to provide an accurate letter input by neighboring keys withoutinput errors.

The cross-section X-X includes a frame which is provided between theneighboring keys, and which is higher than these keys. The frame is aframe which accepts a reaction force caused by the pushing force to akey on the opposite side face by a finger. The reason why the frame ishigher than the keys is that, allowing the finger to be provided on theframe prevents the keys from being erroneously pushed even when thereaction force to the key on the opposite side face is accepted by thefinger on the frame. While being positioned on the frame, the finger canpush any of the neighboring keys without departing from the frame.

The frame shown in FIG. 30, also has, on a specific position thereon, aprojection shown by a solid circle 207 which can be tactilely felt byfingers so that a user can know where the home position is for the inputby touch typing.

There are also concavities 206 as shown in the cross section Y of FIG.30 by which a user can know the home position for the fingers for theinput by touch typing.

The concavities 206 are provided at home positions for at least tenfingers on the surface of the frame 202 to accept the fingers. By theconcavities 206, a user can tactilely feel the concavities by the tenfingers to guide the ten fingers to the home positions.

The invention shown in FIG. 30, is that allocating alphabet letters tothe keys of the cell phone shown in FIG. 17. A conventional cell phonehas about twelve keys allocated with twenty-six alphabet letters andthus provides a very slow letter input rate. A personal computer, on theother hand, uses a QWERTY key board having four of top, middle, andbottom rows.

Although the QWERTY key board is now being used world wide, the QWERTYkey board is not the one made by deliberately considering the balanceamong various factors (e.g., a frequency at which each letter is used,hand fatigue caused by a distance along which the hand travels, a rhythmwith which left and right hands are alternately used for typing a text,the difference of western letters and eastern characters in a frequencyat which the former and the latter are used).

There is no conventional cell phone which has a key layout of twocolumns by which a user is allowed to input any of twenty-six alphabetletters by a single push of a key. Such a problem of conventional cellphones is solved by the present invention. In English, the order of thefrequency at which each letter is used is ETAOINSRHLDCUMFPGWYBVKXJQZfrom higher to lower. In English, the vowels of UIEOA basically tend tobe interposed among the other consonants. In Japanese, on the otherhand, the order of the frequency at which each character is used isIOAUNKTESRYHMGDZWBP from higher to lower. It is clear that in easterncharacters the vowels of UIEOA and consonants are alternately used. Theletter input means shown in FIG. 30, allows the letters UIEOA and RHTNSwhich have a high frequency at which the letters are used both inwestern and eastern languages to be inputted by the minimum movement ofboth hand's forefingers, middle fingers, fourth fingers, and littlefingers by allowing the keys to be provided in one column so that thefingers can move a shorter distance.

The letter input means shown in FIG. 30, also allow the keys to beconfigured so that the order of the frequency at which each finger isused can be the one of forefingers, middle fingers, fourth fingers, andlittle fingers from higher to lower. The letter input means also takesinto consideration a comfortable rhythm of the alternate keying byfingers of left and right hands, a frequency at which each letter isused in western languages and the structure, and a frequency at whicheach character is used in eastern languages and the structure, thusallowing the present letter input means to be used for many languages inthe world.

In FIG. 44, the letter input means also has a key layout of numericcharacter keys 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 0, which can be visuallyrecognized with an ease.

The cell phone shown in FIG. 30, has keys allocated with alphabetletters. The cell phone is also designed such that, while the shift keyis being pushed, an alphabet letter key for inputting “R” is allocatedwith a numeric character “1”, “G” with “2”, “H” with “3”, “M” with “4”,“T” with “5”, “F” with “6”, “N” with “7”, “y” with “8”, “S” with “9”,and “B” with “0”. Such allocation allows numeric characters of 1, 2, 3,4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 0, e.g., telephone number to be inputted only bythose fingers for operating the shift key, which is very convenient andefficient.

In FIG. 17, the cell phone always has, on the front surface of the mainbody, printed letters associated with the keys of the cell phone so thatinputted letters corresponding to the key are guided. Such a printedguide is convenient when a user inputs letter to a cell phone or a smallPDA device according to the present invention. Those letters to beinputted during the one hand mode are printed with a different colorsince the letters are different from those at the normal input, i.e.,input by both hands.

FIGS. 18 and 19 show the cell phone of FIG. 17 having on the displaythereof letters inputted corresponding to the keys selected by thethumbs in order to show the letters corresponding to the keys selectedby the thumbs. When a user pushes the key 83-1 on the top of the leftside face while the display is as shown in FIG. 18, for example, then analphabet letter of “A” on the left top of the display can be inputted.When the thumb selects another key, then the details of a letterindicated on the display are changed accordingly. The exemplary cellphone shown in FIG. 19 is in the one hand mode and thus has four keys onthe left side face, thereby allowing the display to indicate fourletters. Any of the above key layouts allows a user to utilizeefficiently the guidance of input of keys in a small display of the cellphone.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a front view of a conventional letter input devicefor a cell phone.

FIG. 2 illustrates the front view of a letter input device for aconventional folding type cell phone.

FIG. 3 illustrates a view of appearance of the conventional cell phoneof FIG. 1 being inputted with letters.

FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary cell phone according to the presentinvention which is held by both hands so that the fingers of both handscan be used for letter input.

FIG. 5 illustrates a view of appearance of the cell phone of FIG. 4being inputted with letters.

FIG. 6 illustrates one example of the combinations of input keys and thenumber of outputs corresponding to the number of keys shown in FIG. 4according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 illustrates a front view of the letter input device of thefolding type cell phone according to the present invention which has thekey layout shown in FIG. 4.

FIG. 8 illustrates a view of the cell phone of FIG. 4 being used withthe one hand mode.

FIG. 9 illustrates a view of one example of the combinations of inputkeys and the number of outputs corresponding to the number of keys whenthe cell phone of FIG. 4 is used with the one hand mode.

FIG. 10 illustrates an exemplary cell phone according to the presentinvention which can be held by both hands so that the fingers of bothhands can be used for letter input and which also can be used with theone hand mode, and this cell phone has the number of keys appropriatefor the use in alphabet-using countries.

FIG. 11 illustrates an exemplary cell phone according to the presentinvention which can be held by both hands so that the fingers of bothhands can be used for letter input, and this cell phone can be used withboth of a right-handed user and a left-handed user as well as it can beused with the one hand mode for a right hand and a left hand.

FIG. 12 illustrates a view of appearance of the cell phone of FIG. 11being inputted with letters.

FIG. 13 shows a view in which the cell phone according to the presentinvention of FIG. 11 is being used with the one hand mode.

FIG. 14 illustrates an exemplary cell phone according to the presentinvention which can be held by both hands so that the fingers of bothhands can be used for letter input, and this cell phone can be used withboth of a right-handed user and a left-handed user as well as it can beused with the one hand mode for a right hand and a left hand.

FIG. 15 illustrates a view of appearance of the cell phone of FIG. 14being inputted with letters.

FIG. 16 shows a view in which the cell phone according to the presentinvention of FIG. 14 is being used with the one hand mode.

FIG. 17 illustrates one example of the best mode of the cell phoneaccording to the present invention which can be held by both hands sothat the fingers of both hands can be used for letter input.

FIG. 18 illustrates a schematic view of the cell phone of FIG. 17 whichis being inputted with letters by the ten fingers of both hands.

FIG. 19 shows a view in which the cell phone according to the presentinvention of FIG. 17 is being used with the one hand mode.

FIG. 20 illustrates a front view of the letter input device of thefolding type cell phone according to the present invention which has thekey layout shown in FIG. 17.

FIG. 21 illustrates one example of a super-high rate letter input devicefor a cell phone according to the present invention which can be held byboth hands so that the ten fingers of both hands can be used for letterinput.

FIG. 22 illustrates a view of appearance of the cell phone of FIG. 21being inputted with letters.

FIG. 23 shows a view in which the cell phone according to the presentinvention of FIG. 21 is being used with the one hand mode.

FIG. 24 illustrates one example of a super-high rate letter input devicefor a cell phone according to the present invention which can be held byboth hands so that the ten fingers of both hands can be used for letterinput.

FIG. 25 illustrates a schematic view of the cell phone of FIG. 24 whichis being inputted with letters by the ten fingers of both hands.

FIG. 26 illustrates one example of a super-high rate letter input devicefor a cell phone according to the present invention which can be held byboth hands so that the ten fingers of both hands can be used for letterinput.

FIG. 27 illustrates a view of appearance of the cell hone of FIG. 26being inputted with letters.

FIG. 28 illustrates another example of the super-high rate letter inputdevice for a cell phone according to the present invention which can beheld by both hands so that the ten fingers of both hands can be used forletter input, which letter input device causes less fatigue of thehands.

FIG. 29 illustrates a view of appearance of the cell phone of FIG. 28being inputted with letters.

FIG. 30 illustrates the allocation according to the concept of thepresent invention of the letters to the keys of the cell phone of FIG.17, and the cell phone has frames being provided between the neighboringkeys and having a higher height than that of the keys.

FIG. 31 illustrates the allocation according to the concept of thepresent invention of the letters to the keys of the cell phone of FIG.26, and the cell phone has frames being provided between the neighboringkeys and having a higher height than that of the keys.

FIG. 32 illustrates the allocation according to the concept of thepresent invention of the letters to the keys of the cell phone of FIG.24, and the cell phone has frames being provided between the neighboringkeys and having a higher height than that of the keys.

FIG. 33 illustrates the allocation according to the concept of thepresent invention of the letters to the keys of the cell phone of FIG.17, and the cell phone has frames being provided at one side of theneighboring keys and having a higher height than those of the keys.

FIG. 34 illustrates the allocation according to the concept of thepresent invention of the letters to the keys of the cell phone of FIG.26, and the cell phone has frames being provided at one side of theneighboring keys and having a higher height than those of the keys.

FIG. 35 illustrates the allocation according to the concept of thepresent invention of the letters to the keys of the cell phone of FIG.24, and the cell phone has frames being provided at one side of theneighboring keys and having a higher height than those of the keys.

FIG. 36 illustrates an exemplary cell phone according to the presentinvention which is held by both hands so that the fingers of both handscan be used for letter input.

FIG. 37 illustrates a view of appearance of the cell phone of FIG. 36being inputted with letters.

FIG. 38 shows a view in which the cell phone according to the presentinvention of FIG. 36 is being used with the one hand mode.

FIG. 39 illustrates another example of the super-high rate letter inputdevice for a cell phone according to the present invention which can beheld by both hands so that the ten fingers of both hands can be used forletter input, which letter input device causes less fatigue of thehands.

FIG. 40 illustrates a view of appearance of the cell phone of FIG. 39being inputted with letters.

FIG. 41 shows a view in which the cell phone according to the presentinvention of FIG. 39 is being used with the one hand mode.

FIG. 42 illustrates another example of a super-high rate letter inputdevice for a notebook-type cell phone according to the present inventionwhich can be held by both hands so that ten fingers of both hands can beused for letter input.

FIG. 43 illustrates a schematic view of the cell phone of FIG. 42 whichis being inputted with letters by the ten fingers of both hands.

FIG. 44 illustrates the allocation according to the concept of thepresent invention of the letters to the keys of the cell phone of FIG.36.

FIG. 45 illustrates the allocation according to the concept of thepresent invention of the letters to the keys of the cell phone of FIG.39.

FIG. 46 illustrates the allocation according to the concept of thepresent invention of the letters to the keys of the cell phone of FIG.42.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Embodiment 1

FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary cell phone according to the presentinvention which is held by both hands so that the ten fingers of bothhands can be used for letter input.

The cell phone according to the present invention includes: a main body01; a display 02; an antenna 03; a loudspeaker 04; a microphone 05; fiveleft side face keys 23, 24, 25, 26, and 30; three sets of left side facesmall keys 27-1 and 27-2, 28-1 and 28-2, and 29-1 and 29-2; four rightside face keys 31, 32, 33, and 34; three sets of right side face smallkeys 20-1 and 20-2, 21-1 and 21-2, and 22-1 and 22-2; a four-way joystick 19; mode selector switches 35 and 36; a right to control letterinput-switch 37 on the cell phone front surface; a fingers rest 38 shownby the shaded area; a power switch of a conventional cell phone; modeselector switches 11; a four-way joy stick 12; and twelve letter keys17.

FIG. 5 is a schematic view illustrating the cell phone of FIG. 4 whichis being inputted with letter by ten fingers of both hands.

FIG. 5 shows the cell phone held by a right-handed user.

When the left and right components of the cell phone of FIG. 4 (i.e.,all of the keys on the left and right faces, the small keys, thefour-way joy stick and the various mode selectors) are arrangedsymmetrically in the right and left directions, then a cell phone forleft-handed user is provided.

As shown in FIG. 5, the right hand thumb operates the four-way joy stick19, the three sets of small keys 20-1 and 20-2, 21-1 and 21-2, and 22-1and 22-2, and mode selector switches 35 and 36 on the right side face. Aforefinger, a middle finger, a fourth finger, and a little finger of theright hand operate the four keys of 23, 24, 25, and 26 on the left sideface.

Similarly, the left hand thumb operates the three sets of small keys27-1 and 27-2, 28-1 and 28-2, and 29-1 and 29-2. A forefinger, a middlefinger, a fourth finger, and a little finger of the left hand operatethe four keys 31, 32, 33, and 34 on the right side face.

The keys 20-1 and 20-2 are provided closely. This provides three ways ofpushing the button(s) (i.e., one of the two keys is pushed, the other ofthe two keys is pushed, and both of the two keys are pushed). Thesethree ways apply to the combination of 21-1 and 21-2, the combination of22-1 and 22-2, the combination of 27-1 and 27-2, the combination of 28-1and 28-2, and the combination of 29-1 and 29-2. As a result, 18 ways ofpushing the button(s) are obtained when multiplying the three ways ofeach combination with the six sets of small keys. Since all of theremaining nine fingers are ready to push other keys, the thumb of theremaining fingers is allowed to operate the three keys (because thethumb can move faster than other fingers), thereby allowing 198characters to be inputted when multiplying the above 18 ways of pushingthe button(s) with 11. Furthermore, when any of the six sets of smallkeys is not pushed, eight keys can be pushed and thus a total of 206characters (types) can be inputted. (In this calculation, when the key20-1 on the right side face is being pushed, pushing any of the keys27-1 and 27-2 on the left side face is recognized as an input of oneletter. The same applies to the keys 28 and 29. The reason is that sincethe neighboring arrow keys on the right side face provide a delicatetask when being pushed, the keys on the left side face provide only theinput of one letter so that the user does not have to pay attention tothe keys on the left side face).

The finger rest 38 shown by the shaded area is slightly higher than thehousing. The finger rest 38 is provided for the purpose of receiving areaction force caused by a force applied to the opposite side face whena user pushes a key on the opposite side face. The finger rest 38 has onthe surface thereof a coating for preventing a finger thereon fromslipping. The finger rest 38 also has an objective of preventing a keyfrom being erroneously pushed. The finger rest 38 also has a concavityby which a finger thereon can be fixedly positioned.

The four-way joy stick 19 on the right side face has a main task ofmoving a cursor on the display 02 in the lateral and verticaldirections. It also may be allocated with the conversion for inputtingKanji of Japanese language (e.g., conversion of “Hiragana” to “Kanji”,“Katakana” or the like). The mode selector switch 35 may be used for theswitching between alphabetic characters and a native language (e.g.,“Hiragana” of Japanese language, “Kanji” of China, Hangul characters ofSouth Korea). The mode selector switch 36 may be used for the switchingbetween a full size and a half size and also may be used for theswitching to “Katakana” for Japanese language. When the mode selectorswitch 35 is set to provide the switching between two modes and the modeselector switch 36 is set to provide the switching among three modes,then a total of six modes can be switched. As a result,1,236 characters(types) can be inputted because 206 characters can be combined with sixmodes.

These key combinations for 1,236 characters are not necessarilyallocated to only characters and also may be allocated to “Space” key or“DELETE” key. When one key combination for one character is specified asthe one which is to be pushed as a representative key combination forthe collection of special signs, then a specific one character isinputted by the key combination and then a number of special signs canbe subsequently inputted by repeatedly moving the four-way joy stick 19.When the mode selector switches 35 and 36 provide one mode,respectively, then a total of 206 characters can be inputted, thuspreventing the mode selectors 35 and 36 from being used frequently.Therefore, in this case, it is not inconvenient that the right handthumb must move all the way to a position slightly far from the positionat which the right hand thumb always stay.

FIG. 6 shows a view of the combinations of the input keys according tothe present invention shown in FIG. 4 and the number of the outputs. Ascan be seen from FIG. 6, the combinations of the input keys provide asufficient number of combinations when a general English text (includingnumeric characters) is inputted. Thus, a task for inputting English textdoes not require the mode selectors.

On the other hand, a task for inputting a general Japanese text requiresthe switching between two modes because this task requires full sizes of“Hiragana”, “Kanji”; full sizes and half sizes of “Katakana” and numericcharacters; and full sizes and half sizes of alphabetic characters. Inthis case, the introduction of the Roman character input method (i.e., amethod by which “Hiragana” is inputted with alphabet characters)increases such characters that can be inputted with one mode, thusproviding the letter input without requiring frequent mode switching.However, it is not an objective of the present invention to rationallyallocate the keys to characters so that the mode selectors can beswitched less frequently. Thus, the above sections only described howmany characters can be inputted by the switching in the key layoutaccording to the present invention.

In this way, by providing such a key layout that allows all of the tenfingers of both hands to operate keys of the key layout, a singleoperation (i.e., an operation in which another key is pushed withanother finger at one time while pushing a key with a thumb) providesthe input of 206 characters. This means that providing an appropriatetraining to a user of the key layout will allow the user to inputletters with this key layout at an input rate as fast as that providedby a notebook computer on a desk in an office.

In other words, the letter input rate is at least about eight timesfaster than that obtained by a key layout requiring the input by onehand thumb.

FIG. 7 is a front view of a letter input device for a folding type cellphone according to the present invention having the key layout shown inFIG. 4.

The right to control letter input-switch 37 shown in FIG. 4 is a switchwhich provides the switching among three modes when being pushedcontinuously. When a user can use both hands, then the key layout isused as shown in FIG. 5. When a user can use only one hand (e.g., when auser hangs on a strap in a train), then the user pushes the switch 37one time to switch to the one hand mode. When the user pushes the switch37 one more time, then the components as in a conventional cell phone,i.e., mode selector switch 11, the four-way joy stick 12, twelve letterkeys 17 which are provided on the same face of the display 02 can beused during which the keys on both side faces are disabled even whenbeing pushed.

In the above sections, the one hand mode refers to a mode in which theleft side face components (i.e., the four keys 26, 27, 29, and 30) andthe right side face components (i.e., the four-way joy stick 19, thethree sets of small keys 20-1 and 20-2, 21-1 and 21-2, and 22-1 and22-2; and mode selector switches 35 and 36) are provided with the rightto control the input of letters. In the one hand mode, the remainingleft side face components (i.e., the keys 23, 24, and 25; and the smallkeys 28-1 and 28-2) and the remaining right side face components (i.e.,the keys 31, 32, 33, and 34) are all disabled. In the one hand mode,twelve letter keys 17 on the front surface are also disabled. In thiscase, both of pushing one of the keys 27-1 and 27-2 and pushing both ofthe keys 27-1 and 27-2 provide the input of one character. The sameapplies to the keys 29-1 and 29-2. The reason is that a middle fingerand a fourth finger cannot differently push closely-arranged keys likethe keys 27-1 and 27-2 for letter input.

FIG. 8 illustrates the cell phone of FIG. 4 according to the presentinvention which is being used with the one hand mode.

As shown in FIG. 8, the use of the right to control letter input-switch37 provides the switching among three input modes depending on thestatus of the user's both hands or preference. In other words, a userwho is accustomed to the input by a conventional type of key layout canfirstly use the twelve letter keys 17 provided on the same surface ofthe display 02 as in the conventional cell phone while having a trainingfor being able to use all of the fingers of both hands or the one handmode.

Naturally, the key layout also may be arranged to provide an economiccell phone in which the one hand mode is eliminated or theconventionally-used front surface keys are eliminated, thereby reducingthe three input modes to only two input modes. The one hand modeprovides nine key combinations by three sets of the small keys 20-1 and20-2, 21-1 and 21-2, and 22-1 and 22-2; and one combination obtainedwhen any small keys are not pressed, thereby providing a total of 10combinations. These 10 combinations are multiplied with the four keys onthe left side face, thereby allowing a total of 40 characters to beinputted.

The mode selector switches 35 and 36 provide the switching among sixmodes and thus provide an input of 240 characters (types).

FIG. 9 illustrates one example of the combinations of input keys and thenumber of outputs corresponding to the number of keys of the cell phoneof FIG. 4 according to the present invention which is being used withthe one hand mode.

In FIG. 4, the cell phone always has, on the front surface of the mainbody, printed letters associated with the keys of the cell phone so thatinputted letters corresponding to the key are guided. Such a printedguide is convenient when a user inputs letter to a cell phone or a smallPDA device according to the present invention.

FIGS. 5 and 8 show the cell phone of FIG. 4 having on the displaythereof letters inputted corresponding to the keys selected by thethumbs in order to show the letters corresponding to the keys selectedby the mode keys and the thumbs. When a user pushes the key 23 on thetop of the left side face while the display is as shown in FIG. 5, forexample, then an alphabet letter of “A” on the left top of the displaycan be inputted. When the thumb selects another key, then the details ofa letter indicated on the display are changed accordingly. The exemplarycell phone shown in FIG. 8 is in the one hand mode and thus has fourkeys on the left side face, thereby allowing the display to indicatefour letters. Any of the above key layouts allows a user to utilizeefficiently the guidance of input of keys in a small display of the cellphone.

Embodiment 2

FIG. 10 illustrates an exemplary cell phone according to the presentinvention which can be held by both hands so that the fingers of bothhands can be used for letter input and which also can be used with theone hand mode, and this cell phone has the number of keys appropriatefor the use in alphabet-using countries.

The cell phone according to the present invention includes: a main body01; a display 02; an antenna 03; a loudspeaker 04; a microphone 05; nineleft side face keys 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 39, and 30; six rightside face keys 20-1, 20-2, 21-1, 21-2, 22-1, and 22-2; four right sideface keys 31, 32, 33, and 34; right side face a four-way joy stick 19; afingers rest 38 shown by the shaded area; a right to control letterinput-switch 37 on the cell phone front surface; a power switch 10; modeselector switches 11; a four-way joy stick 12; and twelve letter keys 17of a conventional cell phone.

The cell phone shown in FIG. 10 is held in a substantially similarmanner as in the case shown in the schematic view of FIG. 5 in which thecell phone is inputted with letters by ten fingers of both hands.

FIG. 10 illustrates a cell phone for a right-handed user.

When the input means is provided symmetrically on the left side face aswell as the right side face of the cell phone of FIG. 10, a cell phonefor a left-handed user is provided.

As shown in FIG. 10, the right hand thumb operates the four-way joystick 19, six of small keys 20-1, 20-2, 21-1, 21-2, 22-1, and 22-2, onthe right side face. A forefinger, a middle finger, a fourth finger, anda little finger of the right hand operate the four keys of 23, 24, 25,and 26 on the left side face.

Similarly, the left hand thumb operates five keys 27, 28, 29, 39, and30, on the left side face. A forefinger, a middle finger, a fourthfinger, and a little finger of the left hand operate the four keys 31,32, 33, and 34 on the right side face.

When the small key 20-1 is pushed, the remaining nine fingers can pushany of thirteen alphabetical lower case of “a” to “m”, when the key 20-2is pushed, the remaining nine fingers can push any of thirteenalphabetical lower case of “n” to “z”.

Then, when the key 21-1, or 21-2 is pushed, the remaining nine fingerscan push any of twenty-six capital letter of “A” to “Z”. Similarly, whenthe right hand thumb does not push any key, ten numeric characters from1,2, . . . 9, to 0 can be be allocated to the thirteen keys. The otherremaining three keys can be allocated to signs (e.g., “.”, “,”, or“Space”).

The key layout of this cell phone provides the input of a total of 65characters (types) and thus is convenient for the letter input by thosewho are in English-speaking countries.

The remaining small keys 22-1 and 22-2 can be used to input anadditional total of twenty-six characters (types) such as special signsor the like.

FIG. 10 shows one example of a key layout in which twenty-six alphabeticcharacters and ten numeric characters are efficiently provided such thata user operates five keys with his or her left hand to give a burden,thereby giving less input operation for selecting keys by use of righthand thumb.

In this layout, an increase of the key combinations to be selected bythe right hand thumb from four to six allows the number of keys operatedby the left hand thumb to be reduced to three as shown in FIG. 4. Thisallows 66 characters (obtained by multiplying the six key combinationswith eleven) to be inputted, thereby providing a similar function. Thismodified layout also allows the remaining four combinations to bemultiplied with eleven, thereby allowing the input of 44 characters.

In this key layout, the four-way joy stick-19, the right to controlletter input-switch 37, and the fingers rest 38 shown by the shaded areahave the same use method, function, and structure as those in FIG. 4.

The one hand mode in FIG. 10, means a mode where the five keys on theleft side face of 25, 26, 27, 29, and 30, and the six small keys on theright side face of 20-1, 20-2, 21-1, 21-2, 22-1, and 22-2, and thefour-way joy stick 19 , are provided with the right of controlling theinput of letters; and the remaining keys on the left side face of thekeys 23, 24, 28, and 29, and the remaining keys on the right side faceof 31, 32, 33, and 34, are disabled.

In FIG. 10, the cell phone is used in the one hand mode and thus is heldas in FIG. 8.

The one hand mode provides nine key combinations by the six small keys20-1, 20-2, 21-1, 21-2, 22-1 and 22-2, (i.e., one of the two keys ispushed, the other of the two keys is pushed, and both of the two keysare pushed because of providing closely); and one combination obtainedwhen any of the six small keys is not pushed, thereby providing a totalof ten key combinations. These ten combinations are multiplied with thefour keys on the left side face, thereby allowing a total of 40characters to be inputted.

If the key 25 on the left side face is designed to have a mode switchfunction only when the one hand mode is used, then 80 characters can beinputted. Specifically, capital letters and lower cases of twenty-sixalphabetic characters (i.e., a total of fifty-six characters) are addedwith ten numeric characters, thereby allowing a total of sixty-sixcharacters to be inputted. Then, the remaining fourteen characters areallocated to special signs, which is convenient for users inEnglish-speaking countries to input letters. The key 25 on the left sideface is operated by the movement of the right hand forefinger.

According to the key layout of the present invention, when a user's bothhands are available, all of the ten fingers of both hands can be used toallow the remaining nine fingers to be used for the input of twenty-sixalphabet characters by switching only one mode switch key. This providesa faster input rate as compared to the conventional input method usingonly one hand thumb. The present invention also allows a user to havemuch shorter period of training for touch typing than that required bythe conventional input method by only one thumb.

When the user can do a touch typing with the present invention, then afurther faster letter input rate can be obtained. Specifically, thepresent invention provides a cell phone with a letter input rate equalto that obtained by a notebook-type personal computer on a desk,providing new innovative communication means for a cell phone.

As described above, the present invention provides a cell phone with amuch faster letter input rate as compared to a conventional cell phoneboth when the cell phone is held by both hands to be operated by fingersof both hands as well as when the cell phone must be held by one hand tobe operated by the fingers of the hand, thus providing users with muchincreased convenience.

Embodiment 3

FIG. 11 illustrates an exemplary cell phone according to the presentinvention which can be held by both hands so that the fingers of bothhands can be used for letter input, and this cell phone can be used withboth of a right-handed user and a left-handed user as well as it can beused with the one hand mode for a right hand and a left hand.

The cell phone according to the present invention includes: a main body01; a display 02; an antenna 03; a loudspeaker 04; a microphone 05;fourteen left side face keys 52, 53, 54-1, 54-2, 55-1, 55-2, 56-1, 56-2,57, 58, 59, 60, 61, and 62, and a four-way joy stick 40; fourteen rightside face keys 41, 42, 43-1, 43-2, 44-1, 44-2, 45-1, 45-2, 46, 47, 48,49, 50, and 51, and a four-way joy stick 39; a fingers rest 38 shown bythe shaded area; a right to control letter input-switch 37 on the cellphone front surface; a power switch 10; mode selector switches 11; afour-way joy stick 12 of a conventional cell phone.

FIG. 12 illustrates a view of appearance of the cell phone of FIG. 11being inputted with letters. This figure shows the cell phone held by aright-handed user.

As shown in FIG. 12, the right hand thumb operates the four-way joystick 39, six keys 43-1, 43-2, 44-1, 44-2, 45-1, and 45-2, and modeselector switches 41, 42, and 46, on the right side face. A forefinger,a middle finger, a fourth finger, and a little finger of the right handoperate the four keys of 52, 53, 54-2, and 56-2 on the left side face.

Similarly, the left hand thumb operates three keys 58, 59, and 60, onthe left side face. A forefinger, a middle finger, a fourth finger, anda little finger of the left hand operate the four keys 47, 49, 50, and51 on the right side face.

When a right-handed user operates the cell phone by the fingers of bothhands, the four-way joy stick 40, the left side face keys 54-1, 55-1,55-2, 56-1, 57, 61, and 62, and the right side face key 48 are disabled.

When a capital letter “C” is inputted, as shown in FIG. 12, the key 54-2on the left side face may be pushed one time while the key 43-1 on theright side face is being pushed by the right hand thumb as shown in FIG.12. And when an alphabet lower case “C” is inputted, the key 54-2 on theleft side face may be pushed one time while the key 44-1 is being pushedby the right hand thumb.

The use of the present invention provides that the letter input rate isat least about eight times faster than that obtained by a key layoutrequiring the input by one hand thumb.

Naturally, side face keys can be used even when a user uses simply thecell phone for calling a telephone number.

Under a condition where both hands can be used, the cell phone is usedas shown in FIG. 12. When a user must use only one hand (e.g., when auser hangs by the strap of a train), then the user can push the key ofletter input control 37 to switch to the one hand mode.

FIG. 13 illustrates a view of the cell phone of FIG. 11 being used withthe one hand mode.

This figure shows the cell phone held by a right-handed user.

The one hand mode herein means a mode where the four keys on the leftside face of 57, 58, 60, and 61, and on the right side face of thefour-way joy stick 39, the six keys 43-1, 43-2, 44-1, 44-2, 45-1, and45-2, and keys 41, 42, and 46, (which works as a mode selector switch)are provided with the right of controlling the input of letters; and theremaining keys on the left side face of 52, 53, the four-way joy stick40, 54-1, 54-2, 55-1, 55-2, 56-1, 56-2, 59, and 62 and the keys on theright side face of 47, 48, 49, 50, and 51 are disabled.

Even if the one hand mode, the letter input rate is at least about fourtimes faster than that obtained by a key layout requiring the input byone hand thumb.

The cell phone as shown in FIG. 11 is designed for both of aright-handed user and a left-handed user.

By continuously pushing the right to control letter input-switch 37, theright to control the input of letters can be given to any one of: tenfingers of both hands of a right-handed user; ten fingers of both handsof a left-handed user; only five fingers of a right hand of aright-handed user; and only five fingers of a left hand of a left-handeduser.

Those keys used by a left-handed user are symmetrically opposite to theposition of the keys and the four-way joy stick used by right-handeduser described above.

When the cell phone is inputted with letters by ten fingers of bothhands as shown in FIG. 12, then nine combinations of keys can beselected. Specifically, the right hand thumb can select threecombinations of the neighboring keys 43-1 and 43-2 (i.e., pushing any ofthe keys 43-1 and 43-2 and pushing both of the keys 43-1 and 43-2) andalso can select three combinations of each of the keys 44-1 and 44-2 and45-1 and 45-2 (i.e., a total of six combinations), thereby providingnine combinations by adding the above three combinations with the sixcombinations. When the nine combinations are added with a key status inwhich no keys are pushed by the right hand thumb, there are a total often combinations of keys. In this key status, all of the remaining ninefingers can push other keys and thus the thumb included in the remainingfingers is allowed to operate three keys (since the thumb can movefaster than other fingers), thereby allowing the input of a total of 110characters (i.e., 10 combination×11).

When the keys 41 and 42 are allocated with a function of a mode selectorswitch and the key 41 provides two combinations and the key 42 providesthree combinations, then a total of six combinations are obtained. As aresult, 660 characters can be inputted at the maximum.

The finger rest 38 shown by the shaded area is slightly higher than thehousing. The finger rest 38 is provided for the purpose of receiving areaction force caused by a force applied to the opposite side face whena user pushes a key on the opposite side face. The finger rest 38 has onthe surface thereof a coating for preventing a finger thereon fromslipping. The finger rest 38 also has an objective of preventing an keyfrom being erroneously pushed. The finger rest 38 also has a concavityby which a finger thereon can be fixedly positioned.

The four-way joy stick 39 on the right side face has a main task ofmoving a cursor on the display 02 in the lateral and verticaldirections. It also may be allocated with the conversion for inputtingKanji of Japanese language (e.g., conversion of “Hiragana” to “Kanji”,“Katakana” or the like)

One of the 660 characters may also be allocated to “Space” key or“DELETE” key. When one key for one character is specified as the onewhich is to be pushed as a representative key combination for thecollection of special signs, then a specific one character is inputtedby the key and then a number of special signs can be subsequentlyinputted by repeatedly moving the four-way joy stick 39. In this way, byproviding such a key layout that allows all of the ten fingers of bothhands to operate keys of the key layout, a single operation (i.e., anoperation in which another key is pushed with another finger at one timewhile pushing a key with a thumb) provides the input of 110 characters.This means that providing an appropriate training to a user of the keylayout will allow the user to input letters with this key layout at aninput rate as fast as that provided by a notebook computer on a desk inan office.

In the one hand mode as shown in FIG. 13, the four keys 57, 58, 60, and61 on the left side face are operated by a forefinger, a middle finger,a fourth finger, and a little finger of a right hand, respectively; andthe four-way joy stick 39, six keys of 43-1, 43-2, 44-1, 44-2, 45-1, and45-2, and the keys of 41, 42, and 46 (which works as a mode selectorswitch) on the right side face are operated by the right hand thumb. Theone hand mode provides 10 key combinations by the keys of 43-1, 43-2,44-1, 44-2, 45-1, and 45-2, as shown in Embodiment 2. These 10combinations are multiplied with the four keys on the left side face,thereby allowing a total of 40 characters to be inputted.

The use of the mode selector switches, keys 41, 42, and 46 allows thenumber of characters which can be inputted to be increased from 80 via120 to 160. Even when used with the one hand mode, this key layout cancope with all languages.

In FIG. 11, the cell phone always has, on the front surface of the mainbody, printed letters associated with the keys of the cell phone so thatinputted letters corresponding to the key are guided. Such a printedguide is convenient when a user inputs letter to a cell phone accordingto the present invention.

FIGS. 12 and 13 show the cell phone of FIG. 11 having on the displaythereof letters inputted corresponding to the keys selected by thethumbs in order to show the letters corresponding to the keys selectedby the mode keys and the thumbs. When a user pushes the key 52 on thetop of the left side face while the display is as shown in FIG. 12, forexample, then an alphabet letter of “A” on the left top of the displaycan be inputted. When the thumb selects another key, then the details ofa letter indicated on the display are changed accordingly. The exemplarycell phone shown in FIG. 13 is in the one hand mode and thus has fourkeys on the left side face, thereby allowing the display to indicatefour letters. Any of the above key layouts allows a user to utilizeefficiently the guidance of input of keys in a small display of the cellphone.

Embodiment 4

FIG. 14 illustrates an exemplary cell phone according to the presentinvention which can be held by both hands so that the fingers of bothhands can be used for letter input, and this cell phone can be used withboth of a right-handed user and a left-handed user as well as it can beused with the one hand mode for a right hand and a left hand.

The cell phone according to the present invention includes: a main body01; a display 02; a loudspeaker 04; a microphone 05; a power switch 10;a fingers rest 38 shown by the shaded area; a hinge mechanism 63; eightleft side face keys 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, and 80, and seven rightside face keys 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, and 72, a four-way joy stick 64;and a right to control letter input-switch 37.

FIG. 15 illustrates a view of appearance of the cell phone of FIG. 14being inputted with letters by ten fingers of both hands.

This figure shows the cell phone held by a right-handed user.

As shown in FIG. 15, the right hand thumb operates the four-way joystick 64, five keys 37, 66, 67, 68, and 69, on the right side face. Aforefinger, a middle finger, a fourth finger, and a little finger of theright hand operate the four keys of 73, 74, 75, and 76 on the left sideface.

Similarly, the left hand thumb operates three keys 70, 71, and 72, onthe right side face. A forefinger, a middle finger, a fourth finger, anda little finger of the left hand operate the four keys 77, 78, 79, and80 on the left side face.

When the cell phone as shown in FIG. 15 is inputted with letters by tenfingers of both hands, then the right side face of the cell phone's mainbody 01 is moved by a user to a position in front of the user. Then, theuser can use the hinge mechanism 63 to open the display 02 by 180degrees and then the user can rotate the display 02 around the hingemechanism 63 by 360 degrees, thereby moving the display 02 to a positionin front of the user's eyes to fix the display 02 at the position.

The mere position switching between a right hand and a left hand allowsone cell phone to be used for both of the right-handed and theleft-handed users without the switching by a mode switch.

The use of the present invention provides that the letter input rate isat least about eight times faster than that obtained by a key layoutrequiring the input by one hand thumb.

Under a condition where both hands can be used, the cell phone is usedas shown in FIG. 15. When a user must use only one hand (e.g., when auser hangs by the strap of a train), then the user can push the key ofletter input control 37 to switch to the one hand mode.

FIG. 16 illustrates a view of the cell phone of FIG. 14 being used withthe one hand mode.

This figure shows the cell phone held by a right-handed user.

The one hand mode herein means a mode where the five keys on the leftside face of 76, 77, 78, 79, and 80, and on the right side face of thefour-way joy stick 64, the five keys 37, 66, 67, 68, and 69, areprovided with the right of controlling the input of letters; and theremaining three keys on the left side face of 73, 74, and 75 and thethree keys on the right side face of 70, 71, and 72 are disabled.

This cell phone allows the same keys to be used by both of one hand of aright-handed user and a left-handed user.

When the cell phone shown in FIG. 14 is used by the left hand with theone hand mode, then the keys shown in FIG. 16 are operated by the lefthand fingers. During the operation of the keys, the back face of thiscell phone faces the user. In this case, the display 02 also can beopened around the hinge mechanism 63 by 180 degrees to be rotated by 180degrees. When the display 02 is closed by 180 degrees, then the display02 works as a back face of the main body, thereby allowing theleft-handed user to use the cell phone with the conditions as in a righthanded-user.

In this key layout, the fingers rest 38 shown by the shaded area havethe same use method, function, and structure as those in FIG. 4.

When the cell phone is inputted with letters by ten fingers of bothhands as shown in FIG. 15, then ten combinations of keys by both thumbscan be selected. Specifically, the right hand thumb can select fivecombinations of the neighboring keys 67, 68, and 69 (i.e., pushing anyof the keys 67, 68, and 69 and pushing both of the keys 67 and 68, and68 and 69) and also can select five combinations of each of the keys 70,71, and 72. In this key status, all of the remaining nine fingers canpush other keys and thus the thumb included in the remaining fingers isallowed to operate three keys (since the thumb can move faster thanother fingers), thereby allowing the input of a total of 110 characters(i.e., 10 combination×11). When no keys are pushed by the both handthumbs, there are a total of 118 characters. The use of the modeselector switche keys 66 allows the number of characters which can beinputted to be increased from 118 via 236 to 354.

The four-way joy stick 64 on the right side face functions as shown inFIG. 4.

In this way, by providing such a key layout that allows all of the tenfingers of both hands to operate keys of the key layout, a singleoperation (i.e., an operation in which another key is pushed withanother finger at one time while pushing a key with a thumb) providesthe input of 118 characters. This means that providing an appropriatetraining to a user of the key layout will allow the user to inputletters with this key layout at an input rate as fast as that providedby a notebook computer on a desk in an office.

In the one hand mode as shown in FIG. 16, the four keys 77, 78, 79, and80 on the left side face are operated by a forefinger, a middle finger,a fourth finger, and a little finger of a right hand, respectively; thekey 76 is operated by the right hand forefinger by allowing the righthand forefinger to move from the key 77 to the key 76. The four-way joystick 64, the right to control letter input-switches 37, the three keys67, 68, and 69, and the key 66 (which works as a mode selector switch)on the right side face are operated by the right hand thumb.

As described above, the right hand thumb can select six combinations ofkeys by the keys 67, 68, and 69. Considering that the remaining fingersof the right hand are four, the calculation of 6×4=24 is established andthus a total of 24 combinations of keys are obtained.

The use of the mode selector switches, keys 76 and 66 allows the numberof characters which can be inputted to be increased from 24 via 48, 72to 96.

For the input of an English text, 72 characters are sufficient forpreparing a normal English text.

Embodiment 5

FIG. 17 illustrates one example of the best mode of the cell phoneaccording to the present invention which can be held by both hands sothat the ten fingers of both hands can be used for letter input.

The cell phone according to the present invention includes: a main body01; a display 02; an antenna 03; a loudspeaker 04; a microphone 05;total of eighteen left side face keys in nine rows and two columns 83-1,83-2, 84-1, 84-2, 85-1, 85-2, 86-1, 86-2, 87-1, 87-2, 88-1, 88-2, 89-1,89-2, 90-1, 90-2, 99-1, and 99-2, and on right side face, a joy key 82;total of sixteen right side face keys in eight rows and two columns91-1, 91-2, 92-1, 92-2, 93-1, 93-2, 94-1, 94-2, 95-1, 95-2, 96-1, 96-2,97-1, 97-2, 98-1, and 98-2, and a right to control letter input-switch37 on the cell phone front surface; a power switch 10; mode selectorswitches 11; a four-way joy stick 12 of a conventional cell phone.

FIG. 18 illustrates a schematic view of the cell phone of FIG. 17 whichis being inputted with letters by the ten fingers of both hands.

FIG. 18 schematically illustrates the cell phone being held by bothhands, wherein ten fingers of both hands are positioned at homepositions of the letter input means.

This figure shows the cell phone held by a right-handed user.

As shown in FIG. 18, the right hand thumb operates the joy key 82, sixkeys 91-1, 91-2, 92-1, 92-2, 93-1, and 93-2, on the right side face; theright hand forefinger operates four keys 83-1, 83-2, 84-1, and 84-2 onthe left side face; the right hand middle finger operates two keys 85-1,and 85-2 on the left side face; the right hand fourth finger operatestwo keys 86-1, and 86-2 on the left side face; and right hand littlefinger operates two keys 87-1, and 87-2 on the left side face.

Similarly, the left hand thumb operates six keys 88-1, 88-2, 89-1, 89-2,90-1, and 90-2, on the left side face; the left hand forefinger operatesfour keys 94-1, 94-2, 95-1, and 95-2 on the right side face; the lefthand middle finger operates two keys 96-1, and 96-2 on the right sideface; the left hand fourth finger operates two keys 97-1, and 97-2 onthe right side face; and left hand little finger operates two keys 98-1,and 98-2 on the right side face.

When the right hand thumb does not push any key and the remaining ninefingers push any of twenty-six keys, then it is possible to input any ofthe twenty-six alphabetical lower cases from alphabet letters of “a” to“z”. Then, when the right hand thumb pushes the key 91-2 and theremaining nine fingers push any of twenty-six keys, it is possible toinput any of the twenty-six alphabetical capital letters from alphabetletters of “A” to “Z”.

Similarly, any of ten numeric characters from 1,2, . . . , 9, to 0 canbe inputted when the right hand thumb pushes the key 91-1 and any of thekeys 83-1, 83-2, 84-1, 84-2, 85-1, 85-2, 86-1, 86-2, 87-1, and 87-2 ispushed. The other remaining sixteen keys can be allocated to signs andfunctions required for inputting an English text (e.g.,“BackSpace”,“DEL”, “ENT”, “.”, and “,”).

One of the above keys is not necessarily allocated to only a characterand also may be allocated to a function key, for example “Space” key or“DELETE” key. When one key for one character or one sign is specified asthe one which is to be pushed as a representative key for the collectionof special signs, then a specific one character is inputted by the keyand then a number of special signs can be subsequently inputted byrepeatedly moving the joy key 82.

Thus, the present invention allows one key to have limited two roles(e.g., alphabet, numeric character, sign, or function), thereby allowinga user to perform touch typing with an extreme ease.

As described above, the present invention has the characteristic in thatit is not required to switch the keys on the right side face to beoperated by the right hand thumb when twenty-six alphabet letters areinputted. Such a characteristic also provides a revolutionary advantagewhen Japanese language is inputted with the Roman character inputmethod. Specifically, a Roman character input method for Japaneselanguage does not use the seven alphabet letters of “C”, “F”, “J”, “L”,“Q.”, “V”, and “X” and thus allows nineteen alphabet letters to be usedfor the input of “Kana characters” of Japanese language. As a result,the remaining seven letters can be allocated to such keys that arefrequently used for Japanese language (e.g., keys responsible for “,”,“∘”, “RET”, “DEL”, “Space”, and “BackSpace”, or keys responsible for thecollection of special characters). This allows all “Hiragana” to becontinuously inputted without pushing the mode switch key and alsoallows the right hand thumb to always stay at the joy key so that theright hand thumb can be exclusively used for “Kanji (Chinese character)”conversion, thereby providing a super-high rate letter input.

In this way, the present invention can be applied to any languageincluding English and Japanese so long as the language allows theconversion with twenty-six alphabet letters or other twenty-sixcharacters.

The joy key 82 on the right side face has a main task of moving a cursoron the display 02 in the lateral and virtical directions. The joy key 82also may be allocated for a task of conversion from “Hiragana” to“Kanji” and “Katakana” or other tasks when Japanese Kanji needs to beinputted.

The keys 92-1, 92-2, 93-1, and 93-2 can be used as a mode switch key forthe switching between alphabetic characters and native languagecharacters (e.g., “Hiragana” and “Katakana” of Japanese language,“Kanji” of China, and “.Hangul character” of South Korea) or theswitching between full size and half size.

How to reasonably allocate such letters that are used frequently tothumbs or forefingers which can move faster than other fingers so thatthe fastest letter input rate can be obtained will be described in otherembodiments. The following sections will describe only that the keylayout according to the present invention can classify the keys forcapital letters, the keys for lower cases, and the keys for numericcharacters/function/sign so that faster letter input rate is obtained.

The keys 99-1 and 99-2 on the left side face are provided at suchpositions that can have a contact with a right hand little finger onlywhile the one hand mode is used.

When both hands are used for letter input, then the keys 99-1 and 99-2also may be allocated with two different characters so that thisembodiment will be applicable for inputting a text of a language having28 different characters.

The keys 92-1, 92-2, 93-1, and 93-2 on the right side face are notnecessary when English is inputted by both hands. Therefore, these keymay be omitted or may be allocated to “BackSpace”, “DEL”, “ENT”, “.”,“,”or the like for providing a faster input rate of an English text.

It is noted, however, that the use of the keys 92-1 and 92-2 as a modeswitch key provides a faster Japanese input rate because of the factthat the input of Japanese language requires a total of seven types ofcharacters (i.e., “Hiragana”, “Katakana” of full size and half size,numeric characters of full size and half size, and sign of full size andhalf size).

The following section will describe another method for inputting letterswith ten fingers of both hands according to the present invention.

In this method, the keys 88-1 and 89-1 are used as a shift key used by aleft hand thumb; the keys 91-2 and 92-2 are used as a shift key used bya right hand thumb; and twenty keys are used as a letter key used by theremaining eight fingers. There are five shift modes including a keystatus in which no keys are pushed by thumbs of both hands. As a result,the calculation of 5×20 letters=100 letters is established. An increaseof the shift keys to six allows the input of 140 letters.

There is a method in which while any one of the shift keys is beingpushed, any one key is pushed by any one of the remaining eight fingersof both hands to provide one input. There is another method in which anyone of the shift keys is pushed simultaneously with an action in whichany one key is pushed by any one of the remaining eight fingers of bothhands to provide one input. The latter has a characteristic in that afaster input rate can be provided to a person of experience who has afaster rate at which a key is pressed.

FIG. 20 is a front view of a letter input device for a folding type cellphone according to the present invention having the key layout of FIG.17. This letter input device is folded by a hinge mechanism 14.

The right to control letter input-switch 37 shown in FIG. 17 is a switchwhich provides the switching among three modes when being pushedcontinuously. When a user can use both hands, then the key layout isused as shown in FIG. 18. When a user can use only one hand (e.g., whena user hangs on a strap in a train), then the user pushes the switch 37one time to switch to the one hand mode. When the user pushes the switch37 one more time, then the components as in a conventional cell phone,i.e., mode selector switch 11, the four-way joy stick 12 which areprovided on the same face of the display 02 can be used during which thekeys on both side faces are disabled even when being pushed.

FIG. 19 illustrates the cell phone of FIG. 17 according to the presentinvention which is being used with the one hand mode.

FIG. 19 schematically illustrates the letter input means being held by aright hand, wherein the five fingers of the right hand are always placedat the home positions of the letter input means.

Under a condition where both hands can be used, the cell phone is usedas shown in FIG. 18. When a user must use only one hand (e.g., when auser hangs by the strap of a train), then the user can push the key ofletter input control 37 to switch to the one hand mode. This use methodis a mere auxiliary one for an emergency.

FIG. 19 illustrates the cell phone of FIG. 17 according to the presentinvention which is being used with the one hand mode.

The one hand mode herein means a mode where the eight keys on the leftside face of 87-1, 87-2, 88-1, 88-2, 90-1, 90-2, 99-1, and 99-2, the joykeys 82, and the eight keys on the right side face 91-1, 91-2, 92-1,92-2, 93-1, 93-2, 94-1, and 94-2 are provided with the right ofcontrolling the input of letters; and the remaining ten keys on the leftside face 83-1, 83-2, 84-1, 84-2, 85-1, 85-2, 86-1, 86-2, 89-1, and 89-2and the eight keys on the right side face 95-1, 95-2, 96-1, 96-2, 97-1,97-2, 98-1, and 98-2 are disabled. In FIG. 19, every two keys on theleft side face are allocated to a forefinger, a middle finger, a fourthfinger, and a little finger. The reason is that the mechanism shown inFIG. 30 in which a frame provided between keys is higher than the keysallows the user holding the cell phone with the right hand to inputletters to the cell phone so that these four fingers can differentiatethe allocated two keys to press an appropriate key. The right hand thumbprovides a delicate differentiation and thus is allocated with a numberof keys. Even in the one hand mode, at least about four times fasterletter input rate than that obtained by a key layout using only a onehand thumb can be afforded.

In the one hand mode, the right hand thumb on the right side is used toobtain six key combinations by each of the keys 91-1 and 91-2, 92-1 and92-2, and 93-1 and 93-2 and one combination by pushing no keys (total ofseven combinations). The left side face has eight keys, therebyestablishing the calculation of 7×8 to allow a total of 56 characters tobe inputted.

If the function of the letter input means is designed to allow the keys94-1 and 94-2 to be used as a mode switch key only during the one handmode, then even a simple design provides four modes, thereby allowing anincrease of the number of inputtable characters to 112, 168, and 224.For inputting English which generally includes numeric characters, it issufficient to provide 80 characters by key combinations and thus themode switch key is not required to be switched frequently.

In FIG. 17, the cell phone always has, on the front surface of the mainbody, printed letters associated with the keys of the cell phone so thatinputted letters corresponding to the key are guided. Such a printedguide is convenient when a user inputs letter to a cell phone or a smallPDA device according to the present invention.

FIGS. 18 and 19 show the cell phone of FIG. 17 having on the displaythereof letters inputted corresponding to the keys selected by thethumbs in order to show the letters corresponding to the keys selectedby the mode keys and the thumbs. When a user pushes the key 83-1 on thetop of the left side face while the display is as shown in FIG. 18, forexample, then an alphabet letter of “A” on the left top of the displaycan be inputted. When the thumb selects another key, then the details ofa letter indicated on the display are changed accordingly. The exemplarycell phone shown in FIG. 19 is in the one hand mode and thus has fourkeys on the left side face, thereby allowing the display to indicatefour letters. Any of the above key layouts allows a user to utilizeefficiently the guidance of input of keys in a small display of the cellphone.

Embodiment 6

FIG. 21 illustrates one example of a super-high rate letter input devicefor a cell phone according to the present invention which can be held byboth hands so that the ten fingers of both hands can be used for letterinput.

The cell phone according to the present invention includes: a main body01; a display 02; an antenna 03; a loudspeaker 04; a microphone 05; ahinge mechanism 14; a pivot 100; total of twenty left side face keys inten rows and two columns 102-1, 102-2, 103-1, 103-2, 104-1, 104-2,105-1, 105-2, 106-1, 106-2, 107-1, 107-2, 108-1, 108-2, 109-1, 109-2,110-1, 110-2, 111-1, and 111-2, and on the right side face, a joy key101; a power key 112-1; mode selector keys 112-2, 113-1; and a right tocontrol letter input-switch 113-2; total of fourteen right side facekeys in seven rows and two columns 114-1, 114-2, 115-1, 115-2, 116-1,116-2, 117-1, 117-2, 118-1, 118-2, 119-1, 119-2, 120-1, and 120-2, and afingers rest 38 shown by the shaded area.

FIG. 22 illustrates a schematic view of the cell phone of FIG. 21 whichis being inputted with letters by the ten fingers of both hands.

FIG. 22 schematically illustrates the cell phone being held by bothhands, wherein ten fingers of both hands are positioned at homepositions of the letter input means.

In the method of holding the cell phone, the hands are placed naturallyto give very little fatigue to a user while the user is operating thecell phone.

When the cell phone is used for the input by both hands, then the rightside face shown in FIG. 21 is moved to a position in front of a user.When the display 02 positioned as shown in FIG. 21 is rotated by 180degrees around the hinge mechanism 14 and then rotated around a pivot100 by 90 degrees, then the display 02 as shown in FIG. 22 is obtained.

FIG. 22 shows the cell phone held by a right-handed user. As can be seenfrom FIG. 22, the cell phone includes the joy key 101 and shift keys114-1 and 114-2 operated by which the fast-moving right hand can performa number of delicate tasks.

As shown in FIG. 22, the right hand thumb operates the joy key 101, twokeys 114-1, and 114-2, on the front side face of the user; the righthand forefinger operates four keys 102-1, 102-2, 103-1, and 103-2 on theback side face to the user; the right hand middle finger operates twokeys 104-1, and 104-2 on the back side face; the right hand fourthfinger operates two keys 105-1, and 105-2 on the back side face; andright hand little finger operates two keys 106-1, and 106-2 on the backside face.

Similarly, the left hand thumb operates six keys 118-1, 118-2, 119-1,119-2, 120-1, and 120-2, on the front side face of the user; the lefthand forefinger operates four keys 107-1, 107-2, 108-1, and 108-2 on theback side face to the user; the left hand middle finger operates twokeys 109-1, and 109-2 on the back side face; the left hand fourth fingeroperates two keys 110-1, and 110-2 on the back side face; and left handlittle finger operates two keys 111-1, and 111-2 on the back side face.

When the right hand thumb does not push any key and the remaining ninefingers push any of twenty-six keys, then it is possible to input any ofthe twenty-six alphabetical lower cases from alphabet letters of “a” to“z”. Then, when the right hand thumb pushes the key 114-2 and theremaining nine fingers push any of twenty-six keys, it is possible toinput any of the twenty-six alphabetical capital letters from alphabetletters of “A” to “Z”.

Similarly, any of ten numeric characters from 1,2, . . . , 9, to 0 canbe inputted when the right hand thumb pushes the key 114-2 and any ofthe keys 102-1, 102-2, 103-1, 103-2, 104-1, 104-2, 105-1, 105-2, 106-1,and 106-2 is pushed. The other remaining sixteen keys can be allocatedto signs and functions required for inputting an English text (e.g.,“BackSpace”, “DEL”, “ENT”, “.”, and “,”).

One of the above keys is not necessarily allocated to only a characterand also may be allocated to a function key, for example “Space” key or“DELETE” key. When one key for one character or one sign is specified asthe one which is to be pushed as a representative key for the collectionof special signs, then a specific one character is inputted by the keyand then a number of special signs can be subsequently inputted byrepeatedly moving the joy key 101.

Thus, the present invention allows one key to have limited two roles(e.g., alphabet, numeric character, sign, or function), thereby allowinga user to perform touch typing with an extreme ease.

As described above, the present invention has the characteristic in thatit is not required to switch the keys on the right side face to beoperated by the right hand thumb when twenty-six alphabet letters areinputted. Such a characteristic also provides a revolutionary advantagewhen Japanese language is inputted with the Roman character inputmethod. Specifically, a Roman character input method for Japaneselanguage does not use the seven alphabet letters of “C”, “F”, “J”, “L”,“Q”, “V”, and “X” and thus allows nineteen alphabet letters to be usedfor the input of “Kana characters” of Japanese language. As a result,the remaining seven letters can be allocated to such keys that arefrequently used for Japanese language (e.g., keys responsible for “,”,“∘”, “RET”, “DEL”, “Space”, and “BackSpace”, or keys responsible for thecollection of special characters). This allows all “Hiragana” to becontinuously inputted without pushing the mode switch key and alsoallows the right hand thumb to always stay at the joy key 101 so thatthe right hand thumb can be exclusively used for “Kanji (Chinesecharacter)” conversion, thereby providing a super-high rate letterinput.

In this way, the present invention can be applied to any languageincluding English and Japanese so long as the language allows theconversion with twenty-six alphabet letters or other twenty-sixcharacters.

When alphabet is used for input, a single key can be used for a pair ofa capital letter and a lower case. This allows the fingers to learn theinput system with an extreme ease, thus requiring the minimum period oftime for performing a touch typing with the cell phone.

Specifically, the use of the present invention provides about twentytimes faster letter input rate as compared to that obtained by a keylayout using only one hand thumb for the letter input.

Naturally, in the case where a cell phone is used for a simple task ofinputting a telephone number in which numeric characters of 1, 2, . . ., 9, 0, can be inputted when the right hand thumb pushes the key 114-1and any of the keys 102-2, 102-1, 103-2, 103-1, 104-2, 104-1, 105-2,105-1, 106-2, and 106-1 is pushed as shown in FIG. 21.

When the left-handed user uses the above cell phone as shown in FIG. 22,then the right hand and the left hand shown in FIG. 22 only have to beinterchanged. In this case, the joy key 101 is operated by the lefthand.

The joy key 101 on the right side face has a main task of moving acursor on the display 02 in the lateral and virtical directions. The joykey 101 also may be allocated for a task of conversion from “Hiragana”to “Kanji” and “Katakana” or other tasks when-Japanese Kanji needs to beinputted.

The keys 115-1, 115-2, 116-1, and 116-2 can be used as a mode switch keyfor the switching between alphabetic characters and native languagecharacters (e.g., “Hiragana” and “Katakana” of Japanese language,“Kanji” of China, and “Hangul character” of South Korea) or theswitching between full size and half size.

How to reasonably allocate such letters that are used frequently tothumbs or forefingers which can move faster than other fingers so thatthe fastest letter input rate can be obtained will be described in otherembodiments. The following sections will describe only that the keylayout according to the present invention can classify the keys forcapital letters, the keys for lower cases, and the keys for numericcharacters/function /sign so that faster letter input rate is obtained.

The keys 115-1, 115-2, 116-1, 116-2, 117-1, and 117-2 on the right sideface are not necessary when English is inputted by both hands.Therefore, these key may be omitted or may be allocated to “BackSpace”,“DEL”, “ENT”, “.”, “,” or the like for providing a faster input rate ofan English text.

It is noted, however, that the use of the keys 115-1, 115-2, 116-1, and116-2 as a mode switch key provides a faster Japanese input rate becauseof the fact that the input of Japanese language requires a total ofseven types of characters (i.e., “Hiragana”, “Katakana” of full size andhalf size, numeric characters of full size and half size, and signof-full size and half size).

The right to control letter input-switch 113-2 shown in FIG. 21 is aswitch which provides the switching among three modes when being pushedcontinuously.

Under a condition where both hands can be used, the cell phone is usedas shown in FIG. 22. When a user must use only one hand (e.g., when auser hangs by the strap of a train), then the user can push the key ofletter input control 113-2 to switch to the right hand mode. When theuser pushes the switch 113-2 one more time, user can switch to the lefthand mode.

FIG. 23 shows a view in which the cell phone according to the presentinvention of FIG. 21 is being used with the right hand mode.

FIG. 23 schematically illustrates the letter input means being held by aright hand, wherein the five fingers of the right hand are always placedat the home positions of the letter input means. This use method is amere auxiliary one for an emergency.

The one hand mode herein means a mode where the eight keys on the leftside face of 106-1, 106-2, 108-1, 108-2, 109-1, 109-2, 110-1, and 110-2,the joy keys 101, and the eight keys on the right side face 114-1,114-2, 115-1, 115-2, 116-1, 116-2, 117-1, and 117-2 are provided withthe right of controlling the input of letters; and the remaining twelvekeys on the left side face 102-1, 102-2, 103-1, 103-2, 104-1, 104-2,105-1, 105-2, 107-1, 107-2, 111-1, and 111-2 and the six keys on theright side face 118-1, 118-2, 119-1, 119-2, 120-1, and 120-2 aredisabled. In FIG. 23, every two keys on the left side face are allocatedto a forefinger, a middle finger, a fourth finger, and a little finger.The reason is that the mechanism shown in FIG. 30 in which a frameprovided between keys is higher than the keys allows the user holdingthe cell phone with the right hand to input letters to the cell phone sothat these four fingers can differentiate the allocated two keys topress an appropriate key. The right hand thumb provides a delicatedifferentiation and thus is allocated with a number of keys. Even in theone hand mode, at least about four times faster letter input rate thanthat obtained by a key layout using only a one hand thumb can beafforded.

For the left-handed user, the back face of the cell phone shown in FIG.21 is used as a front surface for the operation by the left hand.

In this case, keys to be operated are the same as those used by theright hand user. When the display 02 as shown in FIG. 22 is placed at aposition of the back face shown in FIG. 21, then the display 02 isplaced in front of the left-handed user. Then, the loudspeaker 04 andthe microphone 05 are provided at the back side of the display 02. InFIGS. 21 and 22, the display of the display 02 is made upside down bydetecting the angle of the hinge mechanism 14.

The function of the right to control letter input-key 113-2 may beenough and the key may be replaced by other mode switch keys.Alternatively, the function of the right to control letter input-key113-2 also may be played by the simultaneous push of a plurality of keysor a push of a predetermined key for a fixed period of time.

In the one hand mode, the right hand thumb on the right side is used toobtain six key combinations by each of the keys 114-1, 114-2, 115-1,115-2, 116-1 and 116-2 and one combination by pushing no keys (total ofseven combinations). The left side face has eight keys, therebyestablishing the calculation of 7×8 to allow a total of 56 characters tobe inputted.

If the function of the letter input means is designed to allow the keys117-1 and 117-2 to be used as a mode switch key only during the one handmode, then even a simple design provides four modes, thereby allowing anincrease of the number of inputtable characters to 112, 168, and 224.For inputting English which generally includes numeric characters, it issufficient to provide 80 characters by key combinations and thus themode switch key is not required to be switched frequently.

Naturally, one hand mode of the present invention can be applied to anylanguage including Japanese.

Embodiment 7

FIG. 24 illustrates one example of a super-high rate letter input devicefor a cell phone according to the present invention which can be held byboth hands so that the ten fingers of both hands can be used for letterinput.

This letter input means is characterized in that two housings providedat right and left are connected. This cell phone can be folded like abook in the left-and-right direction. This letter input means has twodisplays provided at the left and right sides and can be used as both ofan electronic databook and a cell phone by which a number of pieces ofletter information or the like can be recognized at one glance andcharacters can be inputted at a high rate.

The cell phone according to the present invention includes: two mainhousing 01 at the right and left side; two display 02 at the right andleft side; an antenna 03; a loudspeaker 04; a microphone 05 at the rightand left side; two sets of hinge mechanism 14 of upper and lower side;four sets of bar 121; four sets of bar storage groove 122; and a joystick 123, total of eight keys in four rows and two columns 125-1,125-2, 126-1, 126-2, 127-1, 127-2, 128-1, and 128-2 on the left sideface of the left housing; total of ten keys in five rows and two columns129-1, 129-2, 130-1, 130-2, 131-1, 131-2, 132-1, 132-2, 133-1, and 133-2on the right side face of the left housing; total of ten keys in fiverows and two columns 134-1, 134-2, 135-1, 135-2, 136-1, 136-2, 137-1,137-2, 138-1, and 138-2 on the left side face of the right housing; ajoy stick 124, total of eight keys in four rows and two columns a rightto control letter input-switch 139-1, a power switch 139-2, 140-1,140-2, 141-1, 141-2, 142-1, and 142-2 on the right side face of theright housing, a fingers rest 38 shown by the shaded area.

FIG. 25 illustrates a schematic view of the cell phone of FIG. 24 whichis being inputted with letters by the ten fingers of both hands.

FIG. 25 schematically illustrates the cell phone being held by bothhands, wherein ten fingers of both hands are positioned at homepositions of the letter input means.

Except for the case where the cell phone is used by both hands, theletter input means takes a folded-configuration by allowing a user toapply a compressive force to the main housing 01 from left and rightsides to push a bar 121 into a bar storage groove 122 and tosubsequently allow the hinge mechanism 14 to oppose the back faces toeach other as shown in FIG. 24. As a result, the two displays 02 faceoutside.

When being folded, the letter input means also can be used as a usualtelephone in which the display 02 can display information and receptionand transmission of information can be provided by a limited number ofkeys as compared to the number for the use by both hands.

The letter input means shown in FIG. 25 may be used by both of aright-handed user and a left-handed user.

As shown in FIG. 25, the left hand thumb operates the joy stick 123,eight keys in four rows and two columns 125-1, 125-2, 126-1, 126-2,127-1, 127-2, 128-1 and 128-2, on the left side face of the lefthousing; the left hand forefinger operates keys of 129-1, 129-2, 130-1,and 130-2, the left hand middle finger operates keys of 131-1, 131-2,the left hand fourth finger operates keys of 132-1, 132-2, and left handlittle finger operates keys of 133-1, 133-2, on the right side face ofthe left housing. Similarly, the right hand forefinger operates keys of134-1, 134-2, 135-1, and 135-2, the right hand middle finger operateskeys of 136-1, 136-2, the right hand fourth finger operates keys of137-1, 137-2, and right hand little finger operates keys of 138-1, 138-2on the left side face of the right housing; the right hand thumboperates the joy stick 124, eight keys in four rows and two columns ofthe right to control letter input-switch 139-1, the power switch 139-2,140-1, 140-2, 141-1, 141-2, 142-1, and 142-2, on the right side face ofthe right housing.

The following sections will describe a case where a right-handed useruses the keys of this letter input means.

When the right hand thumb does not push any key and the remaining ninefingers push any of twenty-six keys, (the left hand thumb pushes sixkeys of 126-1, 126-2, 127-1, 127-2, 128-1, and 128-2) then it ispossible to input any of the twenty-six alphabetical lower cases fromalphabet letters of “a” to “z”. Then, when the right hand thumb pushesthe key 140-2 and the remaining nine fingers push any of twenty-sixkeys, it is possible to input any of the twenty-six alphabetical capitalletters from alphabet letters of “A” to “Z”.

Similarly, any of ten numeric characters from 1,2, . . . , 9, to 0 canbe inputted when the right hand thumb pushes the key 140-1 and any ofthe keys 129-1, 129-2, 130-1, 130-2, 131-1, 131-2, 132-1, 132-2, 133-1,and 133-2 is pushed. The other remaining sixteen keys can be allocatedto signs and functions required for inputting an English text(e.g.,“BackSpace”, “DEL”, “ENT”, “.”, and “,”).

In the right-handed mode, the joy stick 124 is enabled and the joy stick123 is disabled.

When the right-handed user inputs an English text, the joy stick 123 andthe keys 141-1 and 141-2 and 142-1 and 142-2 are unnecessary. Thus,these key may be omitted or may be allocated to “BackSpace”, “DEL”,“ENT”, 37 .”, “,” or other functions to increase the rate at which theEnglish text is inputted.

The following section will describe another method for inputting letterswith ten fingers of both hands according to the present invention.

In this method, the keys 126-1 and 127-1 are used as a shift key used bya left hand thumb; the keys 140-2 and 141-2 are used as a shift key usedby a right hand thumb; and twenty keys are used as a letter key used bythe remaining eight fingers. There are five shift modes including a keystatus in which no keys are pushed by thumbs of both hands. As a result,the calculation of 5×20 letters=100 letters is established. An increaseof the shift keys to six allows the input of 140 letters.

There is a method in which while any one of the shift keys is beingpushed, any one key is pushed by any one of the remaining eight fingersof both hands to provide one input. There is another method in which anyone of the shift keys is pushed simultaneously with an action in whichany one key is pushed by any one of the remaining eight fingers of bothhands to provide one input. The latter has a characteristic in that afaster input rate can be provided to a person of experience who has afaster rate at which a key is pressed.

When the left-handed user uses this letter input means, then the rightto control letter input-key 139-1 is used to switch a mode to enable thejoy stick 123, Then, the keys 126-1 and 126-2 are used as a shift keyfor switching to the input of alphabet capital letters, alphabet lowercases, or numeric characters/sign/function.

In turn, the joy stick 124 is disabled and the keys 140-1 and 140-2,141-1 and 141-2, and 143-1 and 143-2 are used as those for inputtingcharacters instead of the keys 126-1 and 126-2, 127-1 and 127-2, and128-1 and 128-2.

If such a software is preliminarily designed, one type of cell phone canbe used by both of left-handed user and right-handed user by allowingthe user to select an appropriate key layout.

In FIG. 24, the cell phone always has, on the front surface of the mainbody, printed letters associated with the keys of the cell phone so thatinputted letters corresponding to the key are guided. Such a printedguide is convenient when a user inputs letter to a cell phone or a smallPDA device according to the present invention.

FIG. 25 show the cell phone of FIG. 24 having on the display thereofletters inputted corresponding to the keys selected by the thumbs inorder to show the letters corresponding to the keys selected by the modekeys and the thumbs. When a user pushes the key 126-1 on the left sideface of the left housing while the display is as shown in FIG. 25, forexample, then an alphabet letter of “K” on the left top of the displaycan be inputted. When the thumb selects another key, then the details ofa letter indicated on the display are changed accordingly. Any of theabove key layouts allows a user to utilize efficiently the guidance ofinput of keys in a small display of the cell phone.

Embodiment 8

FIG. 26 illustrates one example of a super-high rate letter input devicefor a cell phone according to the present invention which can be held byboth hands so that the ten fingers of both hands can be used for letterinput.

The cell phone according to the present invention includes: a main body01; a display 02; an antenna 03; a loudspeaker 04; a microphone 05; ahinge mechanism 14; total of twenty left side face keys in ten rows andtwo columns 144-1, 144-2, 145-1, 145-2, 146-1, 146-2, 147-1, 147-2,148-1, 148-2, 149-1, 149-2, 150-1, 150-2, 151-1, 151-2, 152-1, 152-2,153-1, and 153-2, and on the right side face, a joy key 143; a power key154-1; mode selector keys 154-2, 155-1, 155-2; total of fourteen rightside face keys in seven rows and two columns 156-1, 156-2, 157-1, 157-2,158-1, 158-2, 159-1, 159-2, 160-1, 160-2, 161-1, 161-2, 162-1, and162-2, and a fingers rest 38 shown by the shaded area.

FIG. 27 illustrates a schematic view of the cell phone of FIG. 26 whichis being inputted with letters by the ten fingers of both hands.

FIG. 27 schematically illustrates the cell phone being held by bothhands, wherein ten fingers of both hands are positioned at homepositions of the letter input means.

In the method of holding the cell phone, the hands are placed naturallyto give very little fatigue to a user while the user is operating thecell phone.

When the letter input means is inputted with letters by both hands, thenthe right side face of the letter input means shown in FIG. 26 is placedin front of the user. When the display 02 in the stored state shown inFIG. 26 is rotated around the hinge mechanism 14 by 90 degrees, then thedisplay 02 is moved to a position as shown in FIG. 27.

FIG. 27 shows the cell phone held by a right-handed user. As can be seenfrom FIG. 27, the cell phone includes the joy key 143 and shift keys156-1 and 156-2 operated by which the fast-moving right hand can performa number of delicate tasks.

As shown in FIG. 27, the right hand thumb operates the joy key 143, twokeys 156-1, and 156-2, on the front side face of the user; the righthand forefinger operates four keys 144-1, 144-2, 145-1, and 145-2 on theback side face to the user; the right hand middle finger operates twokeys 146-1, and 146-2 on the back side face; the right hand fourthfinger operates two keys 147-1, and 147-2 on the back side face; andright hand little finger operates two keys 148-1, and 148-2 on the backside face.

Similarly, the left hand thumb operates six keys 160-1, 160-2, 161-1,161-2, 162-1, and 162-2, on the front side face of the user; the lefthand forefinger operates four keys 149-1, 149-2, 150-1, and 150-2 on theback side face to the user; the left hand middle finger operates twokeys 151-1, and 151-2 on the back side face; the left hand fourth fingeroperates two keys 152-1, and 152-2 on the back side face; and left handlittle finger operates two keys 153-1, and 153-2 on the back side face.

When the right hand thumb does not push any key and the remaining ninefingers push any of twenty-six keys, then it is possible to input any ofthe twenty-six alphabetical lower cases from alphabet letters of “a” to“z”. Then, when the right hand thumb pushes the key 156-2 and theremaining nine fingers push any of twenty-six keys, it is possible toinput any of the twenty-six alphabetical capital letters from alphabetletters of “A” to “Z”.

Similarly, any of ten numeric characters from 1,2, . . . , 9, to 0 canbe inputted when the right hand thumb pushes the key 156-1 and any ofthe keys 144-2, 144-1, 145-2, 145-1, 146-2, 146-1, 147-2, 147-1, 148-2,and 148-1 is pushed. The other remaining sixteen keys can be allocatedto signs and functions required for inputting an English text (e.g.,,“BackSpace”, “DEL”, “.ENT”, “.”, and “,”)

One of the above keys is not necessarily allocated to only a characterand also may be allocated to a function key, for example “Space” key or“DELETE” key. When one key for one character or one sign is specified asthe one which is to be pushed as a representative key for the collectionof special signs, then a specific one character is inputted by the keyand then a number of special signs can be subsequently inputted byrepeatedly moving the joy key 143.

Thus, the present invention allows one key to have limited two roles(e.g., alphabet, numeric character, sign, or function), thereby allowinga user to perform touch typing with an extreme ease.

As described above, the present invention has the characteristic in thatit is not required to switch the keys on the right side face to beoperated by the right hand thumb when twenty-six alphabet letters areinputted. Such a characteristic also provides a revolutionary advantagewhen Japanese language is inputted with the Roman character inputmethod. Specifically, a Roman character input method for Japaneselanguage does not use the seven alphabet letters of “C”, “F”, “J”, “L”,“Q”, “V”, and “X” and thus allows nineteen alphabet letters to be usedfor the input of “Kana characters” of Japanese language. As a result,the remaining seven letters can be allocated to such keys that arefrequently used for Japanese language (e.g., keys responsible for “,”,“∘”, “RET”, “DEL”, “Space”, and “BackSpace”, or keys responsible for thecollection of special characters). This allows all “Hiragana” to becontinuously inputted without pushing the mode switch key and alsoallows the right hand thumb to always stay at the joy key so that theright hand thumb can be exclusively used for “Kanji (Chinese character)”conversion, thereby providing a super-high rate letter input.

In this way, the present invention can be applied to any languageincluding English and Japanese so long as the language allows theconversion with twenty-six alphabet letters or other twenty-sixcharacters.

When alphabet is used for input, a single key can be used for a pair ofa capital letter and a lower case. This allows the fingers to learn theinput system with an extreme ease, thus requiring the minimum period oftime for performing a touch typing with the cell phone.

Specifically, the use of the present invention provides about twentytimes faster letter input rate as compared to that obtained by a keylayout using only one hand thumb for the letter input.

Naturally, in the case where a cell phone is used for a simple task ofinputting a telephone number in which numeric characters of 1, 2, . . ., 9, 0, can be inputted when the right hand thumb pushes the key 156-1and any of the keys is pushed as shown in FIG. 26.

The joy key 143 on the right side face has a main task of moving acursor on the display 02 in the lateral and virtical directions. The joykey 143 also may be allocated for a task of conversion from “Hiragana”to “Kanji” and “Katakana” or other tasks when Japanese Kanji needs to beinputted.

The keys 157-1, 157-2, 158-1, and 158-2 can be used as a mode switch keyfor the switching between alphabetic characters and native languagecharacters (e.g., “Hiragana” and “Katakana” of Japanese language,“Kanji” of China, and “Hangul character” of South Korea) or theswitching between full size and half size.

How to reasonably allocate such letters that are used frequently tothumbs or forefingers which can move faster than other fingers so thatthe fastest letter input rate can be obtained will be described in otherembodiments.

The following sections will describe only that the key layout accordingto the present invention can classify the keys for capital letters, thekeys for lower cases, and the keys for numeric characters/function /signso that faster letter input rate is obtained.

The keys 157-1, 157-2, 158-1, 158-2, 159-1., and 159-2 on the right sideface are not necessary when English is inputted by both hands.Therefore, these key may be omitted or may be allocated to “BackSpace”,“DEL”, “ENT”, “”, “, ” or the like for providing a faster input rate ofan English text.

It is noted, however, that the use of the keys 157-1, 157-2, 158-1,158-2, 159-1 and 159-2 as a mode switch key provides a faster Japaneseinput rate because of the fact that the input of Japanese languagerequires a total of seven types of characters (i.e., “Hiragana”,“Katakana” of full size and half size, numeric characters of full sizeand half size, and sign of full size and half size).

The following section will describe another method for inputting letterswith ten fingers of both hands according to the present invention.

In this method, the keys 160-1 and 161-1 are used as a shift key used bya left hand thumb; the keys 156-2 and 157-2 are used as a shift key usedby a right hand thumb; and twenty keys are used as a letter key used bythe remaining eight fingers. There are five shift modes including a keystatus in which no keys are pushed by thumbs of both hands. As a result,the calculation of 5×20 letters=100 letters is established. An increaseof the shift keys to six allows the input of 140 letters.

There is a method in which while any one of the shift keys is beingpushed, any one key is pushed by any one of the remaining eight fingersof both hands to provide one input. There is another method in which anyone of the shift keys is pushed simultaneously with an action in whichany one key is pushed by any one of the remaining eight fingers of bothhands to provide one input. The latter has a characteristic in that afaster input rate can be provided to a person of experience who has afaster rate at which a key is pressed.

Embodiment 9

FIG. 28 illustrates another example of the super-high rate letter inputdevice for a cell phone which can be held by both hands. The cell phonehas two of upper and lower housings connected via a pivot.

Only during letters are inputted, the angle taken by the upper housingand the lower housing is fixed at predetermined one angle or a few orsuccessive angles so that the upper housing is twisted to the lowerhousing, which letter input device causes less fatigue of the hands.

The cell phone according to the present invention includes: a upperhousing 01-1; a lower housing 01-2; a display 02; an antenna 03; aloudspeaker 04; a microphone 05; a hinge mechanism 14; a pivot 180;total of eighteen left side face keys in nine rows and two columns181-1, 181-2, 182-1, 182-2, 183-1, 183-2, 184-1, 184-2, 185-1, 185-2,186-1, 186-2, 187-1, 187-2, 188-1, 188-2, 189-1, and 189-2, and on theright side face, a joy key 179; total of twenty right side face keys inten rows and two columns; a call key 190-1; a power key 190-2; modeselector keys 191-1, 191-2; keys 192-1, 192-2, 193-1, 193-2, 194-1,194-2, 195-1, 195-2, 196-1, 196-2, 197-1, 197-2, 198-1, 198-2, 199-1,and 199-2, and a fingers rest 38 shown by the shaded area.

FIG. 29 shows that the upper housing 01-1 of the cell phone shown inFIG. 28 is rotated around the pivot 180 by 45 degrees in acounterclockwise direction seen from lower side of the cell phone andthe lower housing 01-2 is rotated around the pivot 180 by 45 degrees ina clockwise direction seen from the lower side of the cell phone.

When the cell phone is used in which the upper housing 01-1 is rotatedby about 80 degrees in the same direction and the lower housing 01-2 isrotated by about 80 degrees in the same direction, then fatigue of thehands of the user is reduced. The cell phone is designed to be fixed ata specific angle.

The display 02 is designed to be rotated by the same angle as that ofthe rotation angle of the upper housing 01-1 around the hinge mechanism14 in the opposite direction. Thus, the display 02 can be adjusted to bealways placed in front of the user.

FIG. 29 illustrates a schematic view of the cell phone of FIG. 28 whichis being inputted with letters by the ten fingers of both hands.

FIG. 29 schematically illustrates the cell phone being held by bothhands, wherein ten fingers of both hands are positioned at homepositions of the letter input means.

FIG. 29 shows the cell phone held by a right-handed user.

As shown in FIG. 29, the right hand thumb operates the joy key 179, keys190-1, 190-2, 191-1, 191-2, 192-1, 192-2, 193-1, 193-2, 194-1 and 194-2on the right side face; the right hand forefinger operates four keys181-1, 181-2, 182-1, and 182-2 on the left side; the right hand middlefinger operates two keys 183-1, and 183-2 on the left side face; theright hand fourth finger operates two keys 184-1, and 184-2 on the leftside face; and right hand little finger operates two keys 185-1, and185-2 on the left side face.

Similarly, the left hand thumb operates eight keys 186-1, 186-2, 187-1,187-2, 188-1, 188-2, 189-1, and 189-2, on the left side face; the lefthand forefinger operates four keys 195-1, 195-2, 196-1, and 196-2 on theright side face of the user; the left hand middle finger operates twokeys 197-1, and 197-2 on the right side face; the left hand fourthfinger operates two keys 198-1, and 198-2 on the right side face; andleft hand little finger operates two keys 199-1, and 199-2 on the rightside face.

When the right hand thumb does not push any key and the remaining ninefingers push any of twenty-six keys, 181, 182, 183, 184, 185, 186, 187,188, 195, 196, 197, 198, and 199 in thirteen rows and 2 columns, then itis possible to input any of the twenty-six alphabetical lower cases fromalphabet letters of “a” to “z”. Then, when the right hand thumb pushesthe key 191-2 and the remaining nine fingers push any of twenty-sixkeys, it is possible to input any of the twenty-six alphabetical capitalletters from alphabet letters of “A” to “Z”.

Similarly, any of ten numeric characters from 1,2, . . . , 9, to 0 canbe inputted when the right hand thumb pushes the key 192-1 and any ofthe keys 181-2, 181-1, 182-2, 182-1, 183-2, 183-1, 184-2, 184-1, 185-2,and 185-1 is pushed. The other remaining sixteen keys can be allocatedto signs and functions required for inputting an English text(e.g.,“BackSpace”, “DEL”, “ENT”, “.”, and “.”).

One of the above keys is not necessarily allocated to only a characterand also may be allocated to a function key, for example “Space” key or“DELETE” key. When one key for one character or one sign is specified asthe one which is to be pushed as a representative key for the collectionof special signs, then a specific one character is inputted by the keyand then a number of special signs can be subsequently inputted byrepeatedly moving the joy key 179.

Thus, the present invention allows one key to have limited two roles(e.g., alphabet, numeric character, sign, or function), thereby allowinga user to perform touch typing with an extreme ease.

As described above, the present invention has the characteristic in thatit is not required to switch the keys on the right side face to beoperated by the right hand thumb when twenty-six alphabet letters areinputted. Such a characteristic also provides a revolutionary advantagewhen Japanese language is inputted with the Roman character inputmethod. Specifically, a Roman character input method for Japaneselanguage does not use the seven alphabet letters of “C”, “F”, “J”, “L”,“Q”, “V”, and “X” and thus allows nineteen alphabet letters to be usedfor the input of “Kana characters” of Japanese language. As a result,the remaining seven letters can be allocated to such keys that arefrequently used for Japanese language (e.g., keys responsible for “,”,“∘”, “RET”, “DEL”, “Space”, and “BackSpace”, or keys responsible for thecollection of special characters). This allows all “Hiragana” to becontinuously inputted without pushing the mode switch key and alsoallows the right hand thumb to always stay at the joy key 179 so thatthe right hand thumb can be exclusively used for “Kanji (Chinesecharacter.)” conversion, thereby providing a super-high rate letterinput.

In this way, the present invention can be applied to any languageincluding English and Japanese so long as the language allows theconversion with twenty-six alphabet letters or other twenty-sixcharacters.

The joy key 179 on the right side face has a main task of moving acursor on the display 02 in the lateral and virtical directions. The joykey 179 also may be allocated for a task of conversion from “Hiragana”to “Kanji” and “Katakana” or other tasks when Japanese Kanji needs to beinputted.

The keys 193-1, 193-2, 194-1, and 194-2 can be used as a mode switch keyfor the switching between alphabetic characters and native languagecharacters (e.g., “Hiragana” and “Katakana” of Japanese language,“Kanji” of China, and “Hangul characters” of South Korea) or theswitching between full size and half size.

How to reasonably allocate such letters that are used frequently tothumbs or forefingers which can move faster than other fingers so thatthe fastest letter input rate can be obtained will be described in otherembodiments.

The following sections will describe only that the key layout accordingto the present invention can classify the keys for capital letters, thekeys for lower cases, and the keys for numeric characters/function /signso that faster letter input rate is obtained.

The keys 189-1 and 189-2 on the left side face are conveniently used forcertain languages if 28 characters can be inputted without the switchingof the shift key.

The present letter input means also can be used for the letter inputonly by a right hand when only one hand is available for the letterinput (e.g., when a user hangs on a strap in a train, as shown in FIG.28).

In this case, the keys 189-1 and 189-2 are used for inputting letters.The details of the use method are the same as those described inEmbodiment 5 and thus will not be further described.

Although the present method has a limitation, it is convenient ascompared to the letter input only by one thumb.

Embodiment 10

FIG. 36 illustrates one example of a super-high rate letter input devicefor a cell phone according to the present invention which can be held byboth hands so that the ten fingers of both hands can be used for letterinput.

The cell phone according to the present invention includes: a main body01; a display 02; an antenna 03; a loudspeaker 04; a microphone 05; leftside face keys consists of such as 216-1, 216-2, 216-3 in one row andthree columns; total of twenty-seven keys in nine rows and three columns217, 218, 219, 220, 221, 222, 223 and 224, and on right side face, a joykey 215; total of twenty-four keys in eight rows and three columns 225,226, 227, 228, 229, 230, 231 and 232, and a frame 233 for fingers rest.

FIG. 37 illustrates a schematic view of the cell phone of FIG. 36 whichis being inputted with letters by the ten fingers of both hands.

FIG. 37 schematically illustrates the cell phone being held by bothhands, wherein ten fingers of both hands are positioned at homepositions of the letter input means.

As shown in FIG. 37, the right hand thumb operates the joy key 215, ninekeys in three rows and three columns 225, 226 and 227 on the right sideface; the right hand forefinger operates six keys in two rows and threecolumns 216 and 217 on the left side face; the right hand middle fingeroperates three keys of 218; the right hand fourth finger operates threekeys of 219; the right hand little finger operates three keys of 220; onthe left side face.

Similarly, the left hand thumb operates twelve keys in four rows andthree columns 221, 222, 223 and 224 on the left side face; the left handforefinger operates six keys in two rows and three columns 228 and 229on the right side face; the left hand middle finger operates three keysof 230; the left hand fourth finger operates three keys of 231; the lefthand little finger operates three keys of 232; on the right side face.

When the right hand thumb does not push any key and the remaining ninefingers push any of thirty-nine keys except for three of key 224, thenit is possible to input any of the twenty-six alphabetical lower casesfrom alphabet letters of “a” to “z” and ten numeric characters and threecharacters. Then, when the right hand thumb pushes the key 225-2 and theremaining nine fingers push any of thirty-nine keys, it is possible toinput any of the twenty-six alphabetical capital letters from alphabetletters of “A” to “Z” and the other thirteen characters. When the righthand thumb pushes the key 225-1 one more time and it is possible toinput any of the other thirty-nine characters.

In this figure, there are expressed about 39 keys. This number meansthat no problem is caused if such keys that are difficult to be pushedby forefingers which have to operate a number of keys (e.g., keys 216-3and 228-3) and such keys that are difficult to be pushed by littlefingers which have difficulty in moving (e.g., keys 224-3 and 232-3) areomitted to reduce the number of key so that other keys are substitutedfor the letter input. Therefore, even if the number of keys is increasedor decreased by about four, the number will be included in the scope ofthe present invention so long as the keys to be used are provided inthree columns.

One of the above keys is not necessarily allocated to only a characterand also may be allocated to a function key, for example “Space” key or“DELETE” key. When one key for one character or one sign is specified asthe one which is to be pushed as a representative key for the collectionof special signs, then a specific one character is inputted by the keyand then a number of special signs can be subsequently inputted byrepeatedly moving the joy key 215.

Thus, the present invention allows one key to have limited two roles(e.g., alphabet, numeric character, sign, or function), thereby allowinga user to perform touch typing with an extreme ease.

As described above, the present invention has the characteristic in thatit is not required to switch the keys on the right side face to beoperated by the right hand thumb when twenty-six alphabet letters areinputted. Such a characteristic also provides a revolutionary advantagewhen Japanese language is inputted with the Roman character inputmethod. Specifically, a Roman character input method for Japaneselanguage does not use the seven alphabet letters of “C”, “F”, “J”, “L”,“Q”, “V”, and “X” and thus allows nineteen alphabet letters to be usedfor the input of “Kana characters” of Japanese language. As a result,the remaining twenty letters can be allocated to such keys that arefrequently used for Japanese language (e.g., keys responsible for “,”,“∘”, “RET”, “DEL”, “Space”, and “BackSpace”, or keys responsible for thecollection of special characters). This allows all “Hiragana” to becontinuously inputted without pushing the mode switch key and alsoallows the right hand thumb to always stay at the joy key so that theright hand thumb can be exclusively used for “Kanji (Chinese character)”conversion, thereby providing a super-high rate letter input.

In this way, the present invention can be applied to any languageincluding English and Japanese so long as the language allows theconversion with thirty-nine characters.

The joy key 215 on the right side face has a main task of moving acursor on the display 02 in the lateral and virtical directions. The joykey 215 also may be allocated for a task of conversion from “Hiragana”to “Kanji” and “Katakana” or other tasks when Japanese Kanji needs to beinputted.

By switching modes by the joy key 215, a native language input mode canbe selected to use the three keys of 225 as a shift key for a nativelanguage (e.g., “Hiragana” and “Katakana” for Japanese language, “Kanji”for China, and “Hangul characters” for South Korea) and to use the threekeys of 226 as a shift key for English. This allows the input of Englishonly by the operation of the shift key without switching modes while anative language other than English is inputted.

It is also possible to use in the native language input mode the keys225-1 and 225-2 as a shift key so that about 39 keys are used for thedirect input of 51 character-Japanese syllabary without the input ofRoman characters.

In this way, the present invention can be applied to any languageincluding English and Japanese so long as the language allows theconversion with twenty-six alphabet letters or thirty-nine characters.

When alphabet is used for input, a single key can be used for a pair ofa capital letter and a lower case. This allows the fingers to learn theinput system with an extreme ease, thus requiring the minimum period oftime for performing a touch typing with the cell phone.

Specifically, the use of the present invention provides about twentytimes faster letter input rate as compared to that obtained by a keylayout using only one hand thumb for the letter input.

Naturally, the present letter input means also can be simply used as acell phone by which a telephone number can be inputted with one hand. Inthis case, the right hand thumb pushes the key 225-1 simultaneously withthe push of any key in the first and second columns in the group of thekeys 216, 217, 218, 219, and 220 as shown in FIG. 44, thereby providingthe input of numeric characters 1, 2, . . . , 9, and 0.

How to reasonably allocate such characters that are used frequently tothumbs or forefingers which can move faster than other fingers so thatthe fastest letter input rate can be obtained will be described in otherembodiments. The following sections will describe only that the keylayout according to the present invention can classify the keys forcapital letters, the keys for lower cases, and the keys for numericcharacters/function /sign so that faster letter input rate is obtained.

The three keys 224 on the left side face are provided at optimalpositions which have a contact with the little finger of a right hand sothat these three keys are used only in the one hand mode.

The present letter input means also can be used for such a language thatis represented with 42 characters by allowing the three keys 224 to beallocated with characters for both hands mode.

Seven of the keys 225-3, 226, and 227 on the right side face are notnecessary when English is inputted by both hands. Therefore, these keymay be omitted or may be allocated to “BackSpace”, “DEL”, “ENT”, “.”,“,” or the like for providing a faster input rate of an English text.

The following section will describe another method for inputting letterswith ten fingers of both hands according to the present invention.

In this method, the key 222-2 is used as a shift key used by a left handthumb; the key 225-2 is used as a shift key used by a right hand thumb;and thirty keys are used as a letter key used by the remaining eightfingers. There are three shift modes including a key status in which nokeys are pushed by thumbs of both hands. As a result, the calculation of3×30 letters=90 letters is established. An increase of the shift keys tofour allows the input of 150 letters.

There is a method in which while any one of the shift keys is beingpushed, any one key is pushed by any one of the remaining eight fingersof both hands to provide one input. There is another method in which anyone of the shift keys is pushed simultaneously with an action in whichany one key is pushed by any one of the remaining eight fingers of bothhands to provide one input. The latter has a characteristic in that afaster input rate can be provided to a person of experience who has afaster rate at which a key is pressed.

When a user can use both hands, then the key layout is used as shown inFIG. 37. When a user can use only one hand (e.g., when a user hangs on astrap in a train), then the user pushes the key 227-3 one time to switchto the one hand mode. When the user pushes the switch 227-3 one moretime, then the user can use both hand mode. The mode also may beswitched by the joy key 215.

FIG. 38 illustrates the cell phone of FIG. 36 according to the presentinvention which is being used with the right hand mode.

FIG. 38 schematically illustrates the letter input means being held by aright hand, wherein the five fingers of the right hand are always placedat the home positions of the letter input means.

The one hand mode herein means a mode where the twelve left side facekeys in four rows and three columns 220, 221, 223, and 224; the joy keys215, and the six keys on the right side face 225-1, 225-2, 226-1, 226-2,227-1, and 227-2 are provided with the right of controlling the input ofletters; and the remaining fifteen keys in five rows and three columnson the left side face 216, 217, 218, 219, and 222, and the eighteen keyson the right side face 225-3, 226-3, 227-3, 228, 229, 230, 231 and 232are disabled.

In FIG. 38, every three keys on the left side face are allocated to aforefinger, a middle finger, a fourth finger, and a little finger. Thereason is that the mechanism shown in FIG. 36 in which a frame providedbetween keys is higher than the keys allows the user holding the cellphone with the right hand to input letters to the cell phone so thatthese four fingers can differentiate the allocated three keys to pressan appropriate key. The right hand thumb provides a delicatedifferentiation and thus is allocated with a number of keys. Even in theone hand mode, at least about four times faster letter input rate thanthat obtained by a key layout using only a one hand thumb can beafforded.

In the one hand mode, the right hand thumb on the right side is used toobtain six key combinations by each of the keys and one combination bypushing no keys (total of seven combinations). The left side face hastwelve keys, thereby establishing the calculation of 7×12 to allow atotal of 84 characters to be inputted.

For inputting English which generally includes numeric characters, it issufficient to provide 80 characters by key combinations and thus themode switch key is not required to be switched frequently.

In FIG. 36, the cell phone always has, on the front surface of the mainbody, printed letters associated with the keys of the cell phone so thatinputted letters corresponding to the key are guided. Such a printedguide is convenient when a user inputs letter to a cell phone or a smallPDA device according to the present invention FIGS. 37 and 38 show thecell phone of FIG. 36 having on the display thereof letters inputtedcorresponding to the keys selected by the thumbs in order to show theletters corresponding to the keys selected by the mode keys and thethumbs. When a user pushes the key 216-1 on the top of the left sideface while the display is as shown in FIG. 37, for example, then analphabet letter of “G” on the left top of the display can be inputted.When the thumb selects another key, then the details of a letterindicated on the display are changed accordingly. The exemplary cellphone shown in FIG. 38 is in the one hand mode and thus has twelve keyson the left side face, thereby allowing the display to indicate twelveletters. Any of the above key layouts allows a user to utilizeefficiently the guidance of input of keys in a small display of the cellphone.

Embodiment 11

FIG. 39 illustrates one example of a super-high rate letter input devicefor a cell phone according to the present invention which can be held byboth hands so that the ten fingers of both hands can be used for letterinput.

The cell phone according to the present invention includes: a main body01; a display 02; an antenna 03; a loudspeaker 04; a microphone 05; ahinge mechanism 14; left side face keys consists of such as 241-1,241-2, 241-3 in one row and three columns; total of thirty keys in tenrows and three columns 242, 243, 244, 245, 246, 247, 248, 249 and 250,and on right side face, a joy key 240; total of eighteen keys in sixrows and three columns 251, 252, 253, 254, 255 and 256, and a frame 233for fingers rest.

FIG. 40 schematically illustrates the cell phone being held by bothhands, wherein ten fingers of both hands are positioned at homepositions of the letter input means.

In the method of holding the cell phone, the hands are placed naturallyto give very little fatigue to a user while the user is operating thecell phone.

When the cell phone is used for the input by both hands, then the rightside face shown in FIG. 39 is moved to a position in front of a user.When the display 02 positioned as shown in FIG. 39 is rotated by 90degrees around the hinge mechanism 14 and then the display 02 as shownin FIG. 40 is obtained.

FIG. 40 illustrates the appearance of the cell phone being used andhaving a structure convenient for the right-handed user.

As can be seen from FIG. 40, the cell phone includes the joy key 240 andshift keys 251-2 and 251-1 operated by which the fast-moving right handthumb can perform a number of delicate tasks.

This cell phone also can be sufficiently used for the left-handed user.

As shown in FIG. 40, the right hand thumb operates the joy key 240, ninekeys in three rows and three columns 251, 252 and 253 on the front sideface of the user; the right hand forefinger operates six keys of 241 and242 on the back side face to the user; the right hand middle fingeroperates three keys of 243 on the back side face; the right hand fourthfinger operates three keys of 244 on the back side face; and right handlittle finger operates three keys of 245 on the back side face.

Similarly, the left hand thumb operates nine keys of 254, 255 and 256 onthe front side face of the user; the left hand forefinger operatesoperates six keys of 246 and 247 on the back side face to the user; theleft hand middle finger operates three keys of 248 on the back sideface; the left hand fourth finger operates three keys of 249 on the backside face; and left hand little finger operates three keys of 250 on theback side face.

When the right hand thumb does not push any key and the remaining ninefingers push any of thirty-nine keys, then it is possible to input anyof the twenty-six alphabetical lower cases from alphabet letters of “a”to “z” and ten numeric characters and three characters. Then, when theright hand thumb pushes the key 251-2 and the remaining nine fingerspush any of thirty-nine keys, it is possible to input any of thetwenty-six alphabetical capital letters from alphabet letters of “A” to“Z” and the other thirteen characters.

When the right hand thumb pushes the key 251-1 one more time and it ispossible to input any of the other thirty-nine characters.

One of the above keys is not necessarily allocated to only a characterand also may be allocated to a function key, for example “Space” key or“DELETE” key. When one key for one character or one sign is specified asthe one which is to be pushed as a representative key for the collectionof special signs, then a specific one character is inputted by the-keyand then a number of special signs can be subsequently inputted byrepeatedly moving the joy key 240.

When alphabet is used for input, a single key can be used for a pair ofa capital letter and a lower case. This allows the fingers to learn theinput system with an extreme ease, thus requiring the minimum period oftime for performing a touch typing with the cell phone.

In other words, the letter input rate is at least about twenty timesfaster than that obtained by a key layout requiring the input by onehand thumb.

Thus, the present invention allows one key to have limited two roles(e.g., alphabet, numeric character, sign, or function), thereby allowinga user to perform touch typing with an extreme ease.

As described above, the present invention has the characteristic in thatit is not required to switch the keys on the right side face to beoperated by the right hand thumb when twenty-six alphabet letters areinputted. Such a characteristic also provides a revolutionary advantagewhen Japanese language is inputted with the Roman character inputmethod. Specifically, a Roman character input method for Japaneselanguage does not use the seven alphabet letters of “C”, “F”, “J”, “L”,“Q”, “V”, and “X” and thus allows nineteen alphabet letters to be usedfor the input of “Kana characters” of Japanese language. As a result,the remaining twenty letters can be allocated to such keys that arefrequently used for Japanese language (e.g., keys responsible for “,”,“∘”, “RET”, “DEL”, “Space”, and “BackSpace”,“or keys responsible for thecollection of special characters). This allows all “Hiragana to becontinuously inputted without pushing the mode switch key and alsoallows the right hand thumb to always stay at the joy key so that theright hand thumb can be exclusively used for “Kanji (Chinese character)”conversion, thereby providing a super-high rate letter input.

In this way, the present invention can be applied to any languageincluding English and Japanese so long as the language allows theconversion with thirty-nine characters.

The joy key 240 on the right side face has a main task of moving acursor on the display 02 in the lateral and virtical directions. The joykey 240 also may be allocated for a task of conversion from “Hiragana”to “Kanji” and “Katakana” or other tasks when Japanese Kanji needs to beinputted. By switching modes by the joy key 240, a native language inputmode can be selected to use the three keys of 251 as a shift key for anative language (e.g., “Hiragana” and “Katakana” for Japanese language,“Kanji” for China, and “Hangul characters” for South Korea) and to usethe three keys of 252 as a shift key for English. This allows the inputof English only by the operation of the shift key without switchingmodes while a native language other than English is inputted.

Seven of the keys 251-3, 252, and 253 on the right side face are notnecessary when English is inputted by both hands. Therefore, these keymay be omitted or may be allocated to “BackSpace”, “DEL”, “ENT”, “,”,“,” or the like for providing a faster input rate of an English text.

How to reasonably allocate such characters that are used frequently tothumbs or forefingers which can move faster than other fingers so thatthe fastest letter input rate can be obtained will be described in otherembodiments. The following sections will describe only that the keylayout according to the present invention can classify the keys forcapital letters, the keys for lower cases, and the keys for numericcharacters/function /sign so that faster letter input rate is obtained.

The following section will describe another method for inputting letterswith ten fingers of both hands according to the present invention.

In this method, the key 255-2 is used as a shift key used by a left handthumb; the key 251-2 is used as a shift key used by a right hand thumb;and thirty keys are used as a letter key used by the remaining eightfingers. There are three shift modes including a key status in which nokeys are pushed by thumbs of both hands. As a result, the calculation of3×30 letters=90 letters is established. An increase of the shift keys tofour allows the input of 150 letters.

There is a method in which while any one of the shift keys is beingpushed, any one key is pushed by any one of the remaining eight fingersof both hands to provide one input. There is another method in which anyone of the shift keys is pushed simultaneously with an action in whichany one key is pushed by any one of the remaining eight fingers of bothhands to provide one input. The latter has a characteristic in that afaster input rate can be provided to a person of experience who has afaster rate at which a key is pressed.

When both hands are available, the cell phone is used as shown in FIG.40. When only one hand is available (e.g., a user hangs on a strap in atrain), then the user can push the key 253-3 one time to switch to theone hand mode. When the user pushes the key 253-3 one more time, thenthe one hand mode switches to both hands mode. This switching from theone hand mode to both hands mode also may be performed by the joy key240.

FIG. 41 shows a view in which the cell phone according to the presentinvention of FIG. 39 is being used with the right hand mode.

FIG. 41 schematically illustrates the letter input means being held by aright hand, wherein the five fingers of the right hand are always placedat the home positions of the letter input means.

The one hand mode herein means a mode where the twelve left side facekeys in four rows and three columns 245, 246, 248, and 249; the joy keys240, and the six keys on the right side face 251-1, 251-2, 252-1, 252-2,253-1, and 253-2 are provided with the right of controlling the input ofletters; and the remaining eightteen keys in six rows and three columnson the left side face 241, 242, 243, 244, 247 and 250, and the twelvekeys on the right side face 251-3, 252-3, 253-3, 254, 255 and 256 aredisabled.

In FIG. 41, every three keys on the left side face are allocated to aforefinger, a middle finger, a fourth finger, and-a little finger. Thereason is that the mechanism shown in X-X section of FIG. 39 in which aframe provided between keys is higher than the keys allows the userholding the cell phone with the right hand to input letters to the cellphone so that these four fingers can differentiate the allocated threekeys to press an appropriate key. The right hand thumb provides adelicate differentiation and thus is allocated with a number of keys.Even in the one hand mode, at least about four times faster letter inputrate than that obtained by a key layout using only a one hand thumb canbe afforded.

In the one hand mode, the right hand thumb for the right side face isused for a total of six keys. This means that the right hand thumb canselect a total of seven key combinations including six combinations inwhich each of the six keys is pushed and one combination in which nokeys are pushed. Since there are twelve keys on the left side face, acalculation of 7 combination×twelve is established and thus a total of84 characters can be inputted.

In the case of an English text generally including numeric characters,key combinations providing 72 characters are sufficient for the input ofEnglish and thus no mode switch key is less frequently required. Whenthe key 251-3 or the like which is not used only during the one handmode is specified as a mode switch key, then the number of inputtableletters can be increased easily.

In FIG. 39, the cell phone always has, on the front surface of the mainbody, printed letters associated with the keys of the cell phone so thatinputted letters corresponding to the key are guided. Such a printedguide is convenient when a user inputs letter to a cell phone or a smallPDA device according to the present invention.

FIGS. 40 and 41 show the cell phone of FIG. 39 having on the displaythereof letters inputted corresponding to the keys selected by thethumbs in order to show the letters corresponding to the keys selectedby the mode keys and the thumbs. When a user pushes the key 241-1 on thetop of the left side face while the display is as shown in FIG. 40, forexample, then an alphabet letter of “G” on the right top of the displaycan be inputted. When the thumb selects another key, then the details ofa letter indicated on the display are changed accordingly. The exemplarycell phone shown in FIG. 41 is in the one hand mode and thus has twelvekeys on the left side face, thereby allowing the display to indicatetwelve letters. Any of the above key layouts allows a user to utilizeefficiently the guidance of input of keys in a small display of the cellphone.

Embodiment 12

FIG. 42 illustrates another example of a super-high rate letter inputdevice for a cell phone according to the present invention which can beheld by both hands so that ten fingers of both hands can be used forletter input.

This letter input means is characterized in that two housings providedat right and left are connected. This cell phone can be folded like abook in the left-and-right direction. This letter input means has twodisplays provided at the left and right sides and can be used as both ofan electronic databook and a cell phone by which a number of pieces ofletter information or the like can be recognized at one glance andcharacters can be inputted at a high rate.

The cell phone according to the present invention includes: two mainhousing 01 at the right and left side; two display 02 at the right andleft side; an antenna 03;

a loudspeaker 04; a microphone 05; two sets of hinge mechanism 14 ofupper and lower side; four sets of bar 121; four sets of bar storagegroove 122; and total of nine keys in three rows and three columns 261,262 and 263 on the left side face of the left housing; total of fifteenkeys in five rows and three columns 264, 265, 266, 267 and 268 on theright side face of the left housing;

total of fifteen keys in five rows and three columns 269, 270, 271, 272and 273 on the left side face of the right housing; a joy key 260, andtotal of nine keys in three rows and three columns 274, 275 and 276 onthe right side face of the right housing, and a frame 233 for fingersrest.

FIG. 43 illustrates a schematic view of the cell phone of FIG. 42 whichis being inputted with letters by the ten fingers of both hands.

FIG. 43 schematically illustrates the cell phone being held by bothhands, wherein ten fingers of both hands are positioned at homepositions of the letter input means.

Except for the case where the cell phone is used by both hands, theletter input means takes a folded-configuration by allowing a user toapply a compressive force to the main housing 01 from left and rightsides to push a bar 121 into a bar storage groove 122 and tosubsequently allow the hinge mechanism 14 to oppose the back faces toeach other as shown in FIG. 42. As a result, the two displays 02 faceoutside.

When being folded, the letter input means also can be used as a usualtelephone in which the display 02 can display information and receptionand transmission of information can be provided by a limited number ofkeys as compared to the number for the use by both hands.

FIG. 43 illustrates the appearance of the cell phone being used andhaving a structure convenient for the right-handed user.

As can be seen from FIG. 42, the cell phone includes the joy key 260 andshift keys 274-2 and 274-1 operated by which the fast-moving right handthumb can perform a number of delicate tasks.

This cell phone also can be sufficiently used for the left-handed user.

As shown in FIG. 43, the left hand thumb operates nine keys in threerows and three columns 261, 262 and 263 on the left side face the lefthousing; the left hand forefinger operates six keys in two rows andthree columns 264 and 265, the left hand middle finger operates threekeys in one row and three columns 266, the left hand fourth fingeroperates three keys in one row and three columns 267, and left handlittle finger operates three keys in one row and three columns 268 onthe right side face of the left housing.

Similarly, the right hand forefinger operates six keys in two rows andthree columns 269 and 270, the right hand middle finger operates threekeys in one row and three columns 271, the right hand fourth fingeroperates three keys in one row and three columns 272, and right handlittle finger operates three keys in one row and three columns 273 onthe left side face of the right housing; the right hand thumb operatesthe joy key 260, nine keys in three rows and three columns 274, 275 and276 on the right side face the right housing.

When the right hand thumb does not push any key and the remaining ninefingers push any of thirty-nine keys, then it is possible to input anyof the twenty-six alphabetical lower cases from alphabet letters of “a”to “z” and ten numeric characters and three characters. Then, when theright hand thumb pushes the key 274-2 and the remaining nine fingerspush any of thirty-nine keys, it is possible to input any of thetwenty-six alphabetical capital letters from alphabet letters of “A” to“Z” and the other thirteen characters.

When the right hand thumb pushes the key 274-1 one more time and it ispossible to input any of the other thirty-nine characters.

One of the above keys is not necessarily allocated to only a characterand also may be allocated to a function key, for example “Space” key or“DELETE” key. When one key for one character or one sign is specified asthe one which is to be pushed as a representative key for the collectionof special signs, then a specific one character is inputted by the keyand then a number of special signs can be subsequently inputted byrepeatedly moving the joy key 260.

When alphabet is used for input, a single key can be used for a pair ofa capital letter and a lower case. This allows the fingers to learn theinput system with an extreme ease, thus requiring the minimum period oftime for performing a touch typing with the cell phone.

In other words, the letter input rate is at least about twenty timesfaster than that obtained by a key layout requiring the input by onehand thumb.

Thus, the present invention allows one key to have limited two roles(e.g., alphabet, numeric character, sign, or function), thereby allowinga user to perform touch typing with an extreme ease.

As described above, the present invention has the characteristic in thatit is not required to switch the keys on the right side face to beoperated by the right hand thumb when twenty-six alphabet letters areinputted. Such a characteristic also provides a revolutionary advantagewhen Japanese language is inputted with the Roman character inputmethod. Specifically, a Roman character input method for Japaneselanguage does not use the seven alphabet letters of “C”, “F”, “J”, “L”,Q, “V”, and “X” and thus allows nineteen alphabet letters to e used forthe input of “Kana characters” of Japanese language. As a result, theremaining twenty letters can be allocated to such keys that arefrequently used for Japanese language (e.g., keys responsible for ,“RET”, “DEL”, “Space”, and “BackSpace”, or keys responsible for thecollection of special characters). This allows all “Hiragana” to becontinuously inputted without pushing the mode switch key and alsoallows the right hand thumb to always stay at the joy key so that theright hand thumb can be exclusively used for “Kanji (Chinese character)”conversion, thereby providing a super-high rate letter input.

In this way, the present invention can be applied to any languageincluding English and Japanese so long as the language allows theconversion with thirty-nine characters.

The joy key 260 on the right side face has a main task of moving acursor on the display 02 in the lateral and virtical directions. The joykey 260 also may be allocated for a task of conversion from “Hiragana”to “Kanji” and “Katakana” or other tasks when Japanese Kanji needs to beinputted.

By switching modes by the joy key 260, a native language input mode canbe selected to use the three keys of 274 as a shift key for a nativelanguage (e.g., “Hiragana” and “Katakana” for Japanese language, “Kanji”for China, and “Hangul characters” for South Korea) and to use the threekeys of 275 as a shift key for English. This allows the input of Englishonly by the operation of the shift key without switching modes while anative language other than English is inputted.

Seven of the keys 274-3, 275, and 276 on the right side face are notnecessary when English is inputted by both hands. Therefore, these keymay be omitted or may be allocated to “BackSpace”, “DEL”, “ENT”, “.”,“,”or the like for providing a faster input rate of an English text.

How to reasonably allocate such characters that are used frequently tothumbs or forefingers which can move faster than other fingers so thatthe fastest letter input rate can be obtained will be described in otherembodiments.

The following sections will describe only that the key layout accordingto the present invention can classify the keys for capital letters, thekeys for lower cases, and the keys for numeric characters/function/signso that faster letter input rate is obtained.

The following section will describe another method for inputting letterswith ten fingers of both hands according to the present invention.

In this method, the key 262-2 is used as a shift key used by a left handthumb; the key 274-2 is used as a shift key used by a right hand thumb;and thirty keys are used as a letter key used by the remaining eightfingers. There are three shift modes including a key status in which nokeys are pushed by thumbs of both hands. As a result, the calculation of3×30 letters=90 letters is established. An increase of the shift keys tofour allows the input of 150 letters.

There is a method in which while any one of the shift keys is beingpushed, any one key is pushed by any one of the remaining eight fingersof both hands to provide one input. There is another method in which anyone of the shift keys is pushed simultaneously with an action in whichany one key is pushed by any one of the remaining eight fingers of bothhands to provide one input. The latter has a characteristic in that afaster input rate can be provided to a person of experience who has afaster rate at which a key is pressed.

In the situation where both hands can be used, the present letter inputmeans is used as shown in FIG. 43. When only one hand is available(e.g., a user hangs on a strap in a train), then the present letterinput means is used while the cell phone is folded as described earlierto be used in the one hand mode.

The keys to be used in the one hand mode are almost the same as those inEmbodiment 11. Specifically, the eighteen keys 269, 271, 272, 273,274-1, 274-2, 275-1, 275-2, 276-1, and 276-2 are used.

The present letter input means also can be designed to work as a cellphone having a key structure for left-handed users.

Such a cell phone can be realized by moving the joy key 260 shown inFIG. 42 from the face D to the side face of the face A. In this case,the nine keys 274, 275, and 276 are used instead of the nine keys 261,262, and 263 for the letter input. By previously providing one joy key260 on the face D and the face A, respectively, to design a softwarebefore an actual use of the cell phone, both of the left-handed user andthe right-handed user are allowed to use one type of cell phone byselecting appropriate keys.

In FIG. 42, the cell phone always has, on the front surface of the mainbody, printed letters associated with the keys of the cell phone so thatinputted letters corresponding to the key are guided. Such a printedguide is convenient when a user inputs letter to a cell phone or a smallPDA device according to the present invention.

FIG. 43 shows the cell phone of FIG. 42 having on the display thereofletters inputted corresponding to the keys selected by the thumbs inorder to show the letters corresponding to the keys selected by the modekeys and the thumbs. When a user pushes the key 261-1 on the top of theleft side face while the display is as shown in FIG. 43, for example,then an alphabet letter of “K” on the left top of the display can beinputted. When the thumb selects another key, then the details of aletter indicated on the display are changed accordingly. Any of theabove key layouts allows a user to utilize efficiently the guidance ofinput of keys in a small display of the cell phone.

Embodiment 13

Cross-sections X-X shown in FIGS. 30 and 31 illustrate the letter inputmeans designed to provide an accurate letter input by neighboring keyswithout input errors. The cross-sections X-X includes a finger 201, aframe 202, a key 203, a key 204, a frame 205, and a main body 01.

The cross-section X-X includes the frame 202 which is provided betweenthe neighboring keys 203 and 204 and which is higher than these keys.The frame 202 is a frame which accepts a reaction force caused by thepushing force to a key on the opposite side face by a finger. The reasonwhy the frame 202 is higher than the keys 203 and 204 is that, allowingthe finger 201 to be provided on the frame 202 prevents the keys 203 and204 from being erroneously pushed even when the reaction force to thekey on the opposite side face is accepted by the finger 201 on the frame202. While being positioned on the frame 202, the finger 201 can pushany of the neighboring keys 203 and 204 without departing from the frame202. The frame 205 is designed to be lower than the keys 203 and 204 toallow a user to push the keys in an easier manner.

The frames shown in FIGS. 30, 31, and 32 also have, on a specificposition thereon, a projection shown by a solid circle 207 which can betactilely felt by fingers so that a user can know where the homeposition is for the input by touch typing.

There are also concavities 206 as shown in the cross section Y of FIGS.30 and 31 by which a user can know the home position for the fingers forthe input by touch typing. The concavities 206 are provided at homepositions for at least ten fingers on the surface of the frame 202 toaccept the fingers. By the concavities 206, a user can tactilely feelthe concavities 206 by the ten fingers to guide the ten fingers to thehome positions.

The letter input means shown in the cross-section Z-Z of FIGS. 33 and 34is designed to provide the letter input without causing an input errorby neighboring keys. The cross-section Z-Z includes the finger 201, theframe 208, the key 209, the key 210, the frames 211 and 212, and themain body 01.

As shown by the cross-section Z-Z, the frame 208 is provided on the sideof the joint of the finger which operates one side of the neighboringkeys 209 and 210, and is designed to be higher than these neiboring keys209 and 210. The frame 208 is a frame for accepting a reaction forcecaused when a finger pushes a key on the opposite side face. The reasonwhy the frame 208 is designed to be higher than the neighboring keys 209and 210 is that the finger 201 placed on the frame 208 prevents the keys209 and 210 from being erroneously pushed even when the finger 201 onthe frame 208 receives a reaction force caused when a key on theopposite side face is pushed. The frame 208 also allows the finger 201to push the key 209 without departing from the frame 208. When pushingthe key 210, the finger 201 needs to move toward the tip end. The frames211 and 212 are designed to be lower than the keys 209 and 210 so that auser can push the keys 209 and 210 in an easier manner.

The frames shown in FIGS. 33, 34, and 35 also have, on a specificposition thereon, a projection shown by a solid circle 207 which can betactilely felt by fingers so that a user can know where the homeposition is for the input by touch typing.

There are also concavities 206 as shown in the cross section A of FIGS.33 and 34 by which a user can know the home position for the fingers forthe input by touch typing. The concavities 206 are provided at homepositions for at least ten fingers on the surface of the frame 208 toaccept the fingers. By the concavities 206, a user can tactilely feelthe concavities 206 by the ten fingers to guide the ten fingers to thehome positions.

The inventions shown in FIGS. 30, 31, and 32 are those allocatingalphabet letters to the keys of the cell phones shown in FIGS. 17, 26,and 24. A conventional cell phone has about twelve keys allocated withtwenty-six alphabet letters and thus provides a very slow letter inputrate. A personal computer on the other hand uses a QWERTY key boardhaving three of top, middle, and bottom rows.

Although the QWERTY key board is now being used world wide, the QWERTYkey board is not the one made by deliberately considering the balanceamong various factors (e.g., a frequency at which each letter is used,hand fatigue caused by a distance along which the hand travels, a rhythmwith which left and right hands are alternately used for typing a text,the difference of western letters and eastern characters in a frequencyat which the former and the latter are used).

There is no conventional cell phone which has a key layout of twocolumns by which a user is allowed to input any of twenty-six alphabetletters by a single push of a key. Such a problem of conventional cellphones is solved by the present invention. In English, the order of thefrequency at which each letter is used is ETAOINSRHLDCUMFPGWYBVKXJQZfrom higher to lower. In English, the vowels of UIEOA basically tend tobe interposed among the other consonants. In Japanese, on the otherhand, the order of the frequency at which each character is used isIOAUNKTESRYHMGDZWBP from higher to lower. It is clear that in easterncharacters the vowels of UIEOA and consonants are alternately used. Theletter input means shown in FIGS. 30, 31, and 32 allow the letters UIEOAand RHTNS which have a high frequency at which the letters are used bothin western and eastern languages to be inputted by the minimum movementof both hand's forefingers, middle fingers, fourth fingers, and littlefingers by allowing the keys to be provided in one column so that thefingers can move a shorter distance.

The letter input means shown in FIGS. 30, 31, and 32 also allow the keysto be configured so that the order of the frequency at which each fingeris used can be the one of forefingers, middle fingers, fourth fingers,and little fingers from higher to lower. The letter input means alsotakes into consideration a comfortable rhythm of the alternate keying byfingers of left and right hands, a frequency at which each letter isused in western languages and the structure, and a frequency at whicheach character is used in eastern languages and the structure, thusallowing the present letter input means to be used for many languages inthe world.

The inventions shown in FIGS. 33, 34, and 35 are also those allocatingalphabet letters to the keys of the cell phones shown in FIGS. 17, 26,and 24. Design concepts of the key allocation shown in FIGS. 33, 34, and35 are the same as those in FIGS. 30, 31, and 32 except for that frameis provided at one side of the keys so that the keys provided at such aposition that can be easily touched by a finger are allocated with theletters having a high frequency at which the letters are used.

The cell phone shown in FIGS. 30, 31, 32, 33, 34 or 35 has keysallocated with alphabet letters. The cell phone is also designed suchthat, while the shift key is being pushed, an alphabet letter key forinputting “R.” is allocated with a numeric character “1”, “G-” with “2”,“H.” with “3”, “M” with “4”, “T” with “5”, “F” with “6”, “N” with “7”,“Y” with “8”, “S. with “9”, and “B” with “0”. Such allocation allowsnumeric characters of 1, 2, . . . , 9 and 0, e.g., telephone number tobe inputted only by those fingers for operating the shift key, which isvery convenient and efficient.

Embodiment 14

Cross-sections X-X and Y shown in FIGS. 36, 39, and 42 show theinventions by which neighboring keys in the first, second, and thirdcolumn of a plurality of columns can be used to input letters withoutcausing input errors.

The cross-section X-X includes the finger 201, the frame 233, the key222-1, 222-2, 222-3, and the main body 01.

As shown by the cross-section X-X, the frame 233 is provided on theposition between the neighboring keys 222-1 and 222-2, and is designedto be higher than these neiboring keys 221-1, 222-2 and 222-3. The frame233 is a frame for accepting a reaction force caused when a fingerpushes a key on the opposite side face. The reason why the frame 233 isdesigned to be higher than the neighboring keys 222-1, 222-2 and 222-3is that the finger 201 placed on the frame 233 prevents the keys 222-1,222-2 and 222-3 from being erroneously pushed even when the finger 201on the frame 233 receives a reaction force caused when a key on theopposite side face is pushed. The frame 233 also allows the finger 201to push the keys 222-1 and 222-2 without departing from the frame 233.When pushing the key 222-3, the finger 201 needs to move toward the tipend.

The frames shown in FIGS. 36, 39, and 42 also have, on a specificposition thereon, a projection shown by a solid circle 207 which can betactilely felt by fingers so that a user can know where the homeposition is for the input by touch typing.

There are also concavities 206 as shown in the cross section Y of FIGS.36, 39 and 42 by which a user can know the home position for the fingersfor the input by touch typing. The concavities 206 are provided at homepositions for at least ten fingers on the surface of the frame 233 toaccept the fingers. By the concavities 206, a user can tactilely feelthe concavities 206 by the ten fingers to guide the ten fingers to thehome positions.

The inventions shown in FIGS. 44, 45, and 46 are those allocatingalphabet letters and numeric characters to the keys of the cell phonesshown in FIGS. 36, 39, and 42. A conventional cell phone has abouttwelve keys allocated with twenty-six alphabet letters and ten numericcharacters thus provides a very slow letter input rate. A personalcomputer on the other hand uses a QWERTY key board having four of top,middle, and bottom rows including numeric characters.

Although the QWERTY key board is now being used world wide, the QWERTYkey board is not the one made by deliberately considering the balanceamong various factors (e.g., a frequency at which each letter is used,hand fatigue caused by a distance along which the hand travels, a rhythmwith which left and right hands are alternately used for typing a text,the difference of western letters and eastern characters in a frequencyat which the former and the latter are used).

There is no conventional cell phone which has a key layout of threecolumns by which a user is allowed to input any of twenty-six alphabetletters and ten numeric characters by a single push of a key. Such aproblem of conventional cell phones is solved by the present invention.In English, the order of the frequency at which each letter is used isETAOINSRHLDCUMFPGWYBVKXJQZ from higher to lower. In English, the vowelsof UIEOA basically tend to be interposed among the other consonants. InJapanese, on the other hand, the order of the frequency at which eachcharacter is used is IOAUNKTESRYHMGDZWBP from higher to lower. It isclear that in eastern characters the vowels of UIEOA and consonants arealternately used. The letter input means shown in FIGS. 44, 45, and 46allow the letters UIEOA and RHTNS which have a high frequency at whichthe letters are used both in western and eastern languages to beinputted by the minimum movement of both hands forefingers, middlefingers, fourth fingers, and little fingers by allowing the keys to beprovided in one column so that the fingers can move a shorter distance.

The letter input means shown in FIGS. 44, 45, and 46 also allow the keysto be configured so that the order of the frequency at which each fingeris used can be the one of forefingers, middle fingers, fourth fingers,and little fingers from higher to lower. The letter input means alsotakes into consideration a comfortable rhythm of the alternate keying byfingers of left and right hands, a frequency at which each letter isused in western languages and the structure, and a frequency at whicheach character is used in eastern languages and the structure, thusallowing the present letter input means to be used for many languages inthe world. The letter input means also has a key layout of numericcharacter keys which can be visually recognized with an ease.

The cell phone shown in FIGS. 44, 45, or 46 has keys allocated withalphabet letters. The cell phone is also designed such that, while theshift key is being pushed, an alphabet letter key for inputting “R” isallocated with a numeric character “1”, “G” with “2”, “H” with “3”, ” M”with “4”, “T” with “5”, “F” with “6”, “N” with “7”, ” Y” with “8”, “S”with “9”, and “B” with “0”. Such allocation allows numeric characters of1, 2, . . . , 9 and 0, e.g., telephone number to be inputted only bythose fingers for operating the shift key, which is very convenient andefficient.

Industrial Applicability

According to the present invention, keys of a cell phone have the keylayouts as shown in the above embodiments by which any one letter oftwenty-six alphabet letters can be inputted by a single key pushoperation by any one finger of the fingers of both hands, withoutchanging the input conditions by a mode key or the like. This allows aremarkable reduction of input errors by users. Also according to thepresent invention, one key is mainly allocated with one letter and onenumeric character/sign/function, thereby allowing fingers to recognize akey with an ease.

Due to the above reasons, fatigue caused to a user is significantlyalleviated.

When the present invention is used by all of the ten fingers of bothhands, then a letter input rate obtained is about 20 times faster thanthat obtained by the input only by one thumb. Compared to the input byone thumb, the present invention also requires a far shorter period forthe training of a user during which the user learns how to perform atouch typing with the key layout.

When the user can do a touch typing with the present invention, then afurther faster letter input rate can be obtained. Specifically, thepresent invention provides a cell phone with a letter input rate equalto that obtained by a personal computer on a desk, providing newinnovative communication means for a cell phone.

The present invention also provides such a key layout by which keys canbe pushed by the minimum movement of both hands's forefingers, middlefingers, fourth fingers, and little fingers by allowing the keys for theletters having high frequency at which the letters are used both inwestern and eastern languages to be provided in one column so that thefingers can move a shorter distance. The keys are configured so that theorder of the frequency at which each finger is used can be the one offorefingers, middle fingers, fourth fingers, and little fingers fromhigher to lower. In addition, a comfortable rhythm of the alternatekeying by fingers of left and right hands, a frequency at which eachletter is used in western languages and the structure, and a frequencyat which each character is used in eastern languages and the structureare taken into consideration, thus allowing the key layout to be usedfor many languages in the world.

It is estimated that the number of people in the world using a cellphone or a small PDA for letter input will exceed 500 million. Thus, theletter input device for a cell phone according to the present inventionhas an industrial applicability.

1.-179. (canceled)
 180. A cell phone or a small PDA device (hereinafterreferred to as “cell phone” up to claim 197), comprising, for providinga faster letter input to the cell phone, a total of sixteen or more keysconsisting of keys in eight or more rows and two columns provided on theleft side face to a display flat surface; and a total of twelve or morekeys consisting of keys in six or more rows and two columns or a totalof twelve or more keys consisting of keys in five or more rows and twocolumns plus two keys and one or more set(s) of joy keys orcogwheel-type or ball rotation-type input means for taking the task(hereinafter referred to as “joy stick” up to claim 197) provided on theright side face, wherein the cell phone is held by both hands so thatten fingers of both hands are always placed at the home positions of thekeys and the joy sticks (hereinafter referred to as “letter input means”up to claim 197), thereby allowing any one or a plurality of fingers ofthe ten fingers to be used at an arbitrary timing for the simultaneousinput to the letter input means, and wherein a single key pushingoperation by any one finger of the fingers of both hands provides,without the switching of conditions such as a mode key, the input of anyone letter of twenty-six letters.
 181. A cell phone, characterized inthat: a main body of the cell phone is held by both hands without beingplaced on a desk or knees, a main body of the cell phone having asubstantially rectangular parallelepiped shape has, on one face of faceshaving narrower widths including the longest edge line, at least twoshift keys, at least one set of joy sticks, and at least ten keys, themain body of the cell phone also has, on the other face having narrowerwidths, at least sixteen keys, the thumbs and the respective remainingfour fingers of both hands sandwich the cell phone so that ten fingersof both hands are always placed at the letter input means, at least atotal of twenty-eight keys and joy sticks including shift keys areprovided so that the pressing/operation by one hand thumb to the shiftkeys and the joy sticks, the pressing/operation by the other hand'sthumb to at least six keys, the pressing/operation by each of twoforefingers to at least four keys, and the pressing/operation by each ofthe remaining six fingers to at least two keys are performed withoutcausing a situation where a distance of travel of any of the fingersperforming push/maneuver operations (hereinafter, fingers performingpush/maneuver operations are referred to as “active fingers” up to claim187) requires the distance of travel of any of other fingers notperforming push/maneuver operations (hereinafter, fingers not performingpush/maneuver operations are referred to as “static fingers” up to claim187), each of the fingers travels within the distance of travel so thatthe fingers are placed at home positions for providing thepressing/operation of a targeted letter input means, any one finger orboth one thumb and the remaining nine fingers for a simultaneous inputof ten fingers can provide a input to letter input means, and a singlekey pushing operation by any one finger of the fingers of both hands canprovide, without the switching of conditions such as a shift key, theinput of any one letter of at least twenty-six alphabet letters or atleast twenty-six letters of other kinds.
 182. A cell phone,characterized in that: a main body of the cell phone is held by bothhands without being placed on a desk or knees, a main body of the cellphone having a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape has, onone face of faces having narrower widths including the longest edgeline, at least two shift keys, at least one set of joy sticks, and atleast six keys, the main body of the cell phone also has, on the otherface having narrower widths, at least twenty keys, the thumbs and therespective remaining four fingers of both hands sandwich the cell phoneso that ten fingers of both hands are always placed at the letter inputmeans, at least a total of twenty-eight keys and joy sticks includingshift keys are provided so that the pressing/operation by one hand thumbto the shift keys and the joy sticks, the pressing/operation by theother hand's thumb to at least six keys, the pressing/operation by eachof two forefingers to at least four keys, and the pressing/operation byeach of the remaining six fingers to at least two keys are performedwithout causing a situation where a distance of travel of any of activefingers requires the distance of travel of any of other static fingers,each of the fingers travels within the distance of travel so that thefingers are placed at home positions for providing thepressing/operation of a targeted letter input means, any one finger orboth one thumb and the remaining nine fingers for a simultaneous inputof ten fingers can provide a input to letter input means, and a singlekey pushing operation by any one finger of the fingers of both hands canprovide, without the switching of conditions such as a shift key, theinput of any one letter of at least twenty-six alphabet letters or atleast twenty-six letters of other kinds.
 183. A cell phone,characterized in that: a main body of the cell phone is held by bothhands without being placed on a desk or knees, a main body of the cellphone having a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape has, onone face of faces having narrower widths including the longest edgeline, at least two shift keys and at least ten keys, the main body ofthe cell phone also has, on the other face having narrower widths, atleast sixteen keys, the thumbs and the respective remaining four fingersof both hands sandwich the cell phone so that ten fingers of both handsare always placed at the keys, at least a total of twenty-eight keysincluding shift keys are provided so that the pressing/operation by onehand thumb to the shift keys, the pressing/operation by the other hand'sthumb to at least six keys, the pressing/operation by each of twoforefingers to at least four keys, and the pressing/operation by each ofthe remaining six fingers to at least two keys are performed withoutcausing a situation where a distance of travel of any of the activefingers requires the distance of travel of any of other static fingers,each of the fingers travels within the distance of travel so that thefingers are placed at home positions for providing thepressing/operation of a targeted keys, any one finger or both one thumband the remaining nine fingers for a simultaneous input can provide ainput to the keys, and a single key pushing operation by any one fingerof the fingers of both hands can provide, without the switching ofconditions such as a shift key, the input of any one letter of at leasttwenty-six alphabet letters or at least twenty-six letters of otherkinds.
 184. A cell phone, characterized in that: a main body of the cellphone is held by both hands without being placed on a desk or knees, amain body of the cell phone having a substantially rectangularparallelepiped shape has, on one face of faces having narrower widthsincluding the longest edge line, at least two shift keys, and at leastsix keys, the main body of the cell phone also has, on the other facehaving narrower widths, at least twenty keys, the thumbs and therespective remaining four fingers of both hands sandwich the cell phoneso that ten fingers of both hands are always placed at the keys, atleast a total of twenty-eight keys including shift keys are provided sothat the pressing/operation by one hand thumb to the shift keys, thepressing/operation by the other hand's thumb to at least six keys, thepressing/operation by each of two forefingers to at least four keys, andthe pressing/operation by each of the remaining six fingers to at leasttwo keys are performed without causing a situation where a distance oftravel of any of active fingers requires the distance of travel of anyof other static fingers, each of the fingers travels within the distanceof travel so that the fingers are placed at home positions for providingthe pressing/operation of a targeted keys, any one finger or both onethumb and the remaining nine fingers for a simultaneous input canprovide a input to the keys, and a single key pushing operation by anyone finger of the fingers of both hands can provide, without theswitching of conditions such as a shift key, the input of any one letterof at least twenty-six alphabet letters or at least twenty-six lettersof other kinds.
 185. A cell phone, characterized in that: a main body ofthe cell phone is held by both hands without being placed on a desk orknees, the main body of the cell phone having a substantiallyrectangular parallelepiped shape has, on both side faces of faces havingnarrower widths including the longest edge line, at least one set of joysticks and at least twenty-eight keys, the thumbs and the respectiveremaining four fingers of both hands sandwich the cell phone, both handsare shifted in the front-to-rear direction so that ten fingers areplaced on the letter input means of the cell phone, and one hand thumbcan input to at least two keys and at least one set of joy sticks, theother hand's thumb can input to at least six keys, each of twoforefingers can input to at least four keys, and the remaining sixfingers can input to at least two keys.
 186. A cell phone, characterizedin that: a main body of the cell phone is held by both hands withoutbeing placed on a desk or knees, the main body of the cell phone havinga substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape has, on one face offaces having narrower widths including the longest edge line, at leasttwo shift keys, at least one set of joy sticks, and at least ten keys,the main body has, on the other face having narrower widths, at leastsixteen keys, the thumbs and the respective remaining four fingers ofboth hands sandwich the cell phone, the main body of the cell phonehaving a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape has a facehaving a broad width including the longest edge line which is providedwith the entirety of a display so that the entirety of the display isprovided in substantially front of a user's face while the longitudinaldirection of the face having a broad width and a straight line runningfrom the front teeth to a center point between the eyebrows are providedin a substantially parallel manner, one face having the joy sticks hasthereon one hand's thumb, the other hand's forefinger, middle finger,fourth finger, and little finger, and the other face has thereon theother hand's thumb, one hand's forefinger, middle finger, fourth finger,and little finger, thereby allowing the ten fingers of both hands toinput, the cell phone is held so that one hand's thumb and the otherhand's forefinger and the other hand's thumb and one hand little fingeror one hand thumb and the other hand's little finger and the otherhand's thumb and one hand's forefinger are shifted so that the formerand the latter approach to each other, thereby allowing palms of bothhands to face the user's face, ten fingers of both hands are alwaysplaced at the letter input means, at least a total of twenty-eight keysand the joy sticks including the shift keys are provided so that thepressing/operation by one hand's thumb to the shift keys and the joysticks, the pressing/operation by the other hand's thumb to at least sixkeys, the pressing/operation by each of two forefingers to at least fourkeys, and the pressing/operation by each of the remaining six fingers toat least two keys are performed without causing a situation where adistance of travel of any of active fingers requires the distance oftravel of other static fingers, each of the fingers travels within thedistance of travel so that the fingers are placed at home positions forproviding the pressing/operation of a targeted letter input means, often fingers, any one finger or a simultaneous input of one thumb and theremaining nine fingers can provide the input of the letter input means,and a single key pushing operation by any one finger of the fingers ofboth hands can provide, without the switching of conditions such as ashift key, the input of any one letter of at least twenty-six alphabetletters or at least twenty-six letters of other kinds.
 187. A cellphone, characterized in that: a main body of the cell phone is held byboth hands without being placed on a desk or knees, the main body of thecell phone having a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape has,on one face of faces having narrower widths including the longest edgeline, at least two shift keys, at least one set of joy sticks, and atleast six keys, the main body has, on the other face having narrowerwidths, at least twenty keys, the thumbs and the respective remainingfour fingers of both hands sandwich the cell phone, a main body of thecell phone having a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape hasone face having the joy sticks and having narrower widths including thelongest edge line, and the face is provided in front of a user's face,the longitudinal direction of the face and a straight line running fromthe front teeth to a center point between the eyebrows are provided in asubstantially parallel manner, while the entirety of a displaysubstantially rotated by 90 degrees from the storage position is beingprovided substantially in front of the user's face, ten fingers of bothhands are used for input, flat faces of the nails of both hand's thumbsand ball faces of the remaining eight fingers (which are provided to theopposite side of the flat face of the nail) are provided substantiallyin front of the user's face, and tens of the nails and the ball facesare included in substantially a same flat surface, the cell phone isheld so that a side section of a nail of one hand little finger and aside section of a nail of the other hand's forefinger are shifted sothat the former and the latter approach to each other, thereby allowingpalms of both hands to be opposed to both faces of the broadest face ofthe cell phone main body, ten fingers of both hands are always placed atthe letter input means, at least a total of twenty-eight keys and thejoy sticks including the shift keys are provided so that thepressing/operation by one hand thumb to the shift keys and the joysticks, the pressing/operation by the other hand's thumb to at least sixkeys, the pressing/operation by each of two forefingers to at least fourkeys, and the pressing/operation by each of the remaining six fingers toat least two keys are performed without causing a situation where adistance of travel of any of active fingers requires the distance oftravel of other static fingers, each of the fingers travels within thedistance of travel so that the fingers are placed at home positions forproviding the pressing/operation of a targeted letter input means, anyone finger or both one thumb and the remaining nine fingers for asimultaneous input of ten fingers can provide a input to letter inputmeans, and a single key pushing operation by any one finger of thefingers of both hands can provide, without the switching of conditionssuch as a shift key, the input of any one letter of at least twenty-sixalphabet letters or at least twenty-six letters of other kinds.
 188. Thecell phone according to any one of claims 186 or 187, characterized inthat, for allowing a reaction force of pressing/operation by letterinput means on one side face to be accepted by fingers placed at theother side face and for preventing keys from being erroneously pushed,neighboring keys have thereamong a frame higher than the keys.
 189. Thecell phone according to any one of claims 186 or 187, characterized inthat, for allowing a reaction force of pressing/operation by letterinput means on one side face to be accepted by fingers placed at theother side face and for preventing keys from being erroneously pushed, aframe higher than the keys is provided on the side of the finger's jointof one side of the neighboring keys.
 190. The cell phone according toany one of claims 186 or 187, characterized in that: for allowing areaction force of pressing/operation by letter input means on one sideface to be accepted by fingers placed at the other side face and forpreventing keys from being erroneously pushed, neighboring keys havethereamong a frame higher than the keys, and home positions for at leastten fingers on said frame are provided with concavities for acceptingthe fingers, thereby allowing a user's ten fingers to tactilely knowwhere the home positions are so as to guide the ten fingers to the homepositions.
 191. The cell phone according to any one of claims 186 or187, characterized in that: for allowing a reaction force ofpressing/operation by letter input means on one side face to be acceptedby fingers placed at the other side face and for preventing keys frombeing erroneously pushed, a frame higher than the keys is provided onthe side of the finger's joint of one side of the neighboring keys, andhome positions for at least ten fingers on said frame are provided withconcavities for accepting the fingers, thereby allowing a user's tenfingers to tactilely know where the home positions are so as to guidethe ten fingers to the home positions.
 192. The cell phone according toany one of claims 186 or 187, characterized in that: for allowing areaction force of pressing/operation by letter input means on one sideface to be accepted by fingers placed at the other side face and forpreventing keys from being erroneously pushed, neighboring keys havethereamong a frame higher than the keys, and a specific position of saidframe has thereon a projection, thereby allowing a user to tactilelyknow where a current position of a finger of the user is.
 193. The cellphone according to any one of claims 186 or 187, characterized in that:for allowing a reaction force of pressing/operation by letter inputmeans on one side face to be accepted by fingers placed at the otherside face and for preventing keys from being erroneously pushed, a framehigher than the keys is provided on the side of the finger's joint ofone side of the neighboring keys, and a specific position of said framehas thereon a projection, thereby allowing a user to tactilely knowwhere a current position of a finger of the user is.
 194. The cell phoneaccording to any one of claims 186 or 187, characterized in that: thecell phone has, along the long edge line of side face, keys arranged intwo columns, the cell phone has, on one column on one side face, keysfor inputting alphabet letters of UIEOA which are arranged in anarbitrary order, and the keys can be used for the input of two alphabetletters by one hand forefinger and one alphabet letter by a middlefinger, fourth finger, and a little finger respectively.
 195. The cellphone according to any one of claims 186 or 187, characterized in that:the cell phone has, along the long edge line of side face, keys arrangedin two columns, the cell phone has, on one column on one side face, keysfor inputting alphabet letters of UIEOA provided in an arbitrary order,the keys can be used for the input of two alphabet letters by one handforefinger and one alphabet letter by a middle finger, fourth finger,and a little finger respectively, the cell phone has, one column on theside face or on the other side face, keys for inputting alphabet lettersof RHTNS provided in an arbitrary order, and the keys can be used forthe input of two alphabet letters by the other hand's forefinger and onealphabet letter by a middle finger, fourth finger, and a little fingerrespectively.
 196. The cell phone according to any one of claims 186 or187, characterized in that: the cell phone has, along the long edge lineof side face, keys arranged in two columns, the cell phone has, on onecolumn on one side face, keys for inputting alphabet letters of UIEOAwhich are arranged in a sequential order, and the keys can be used forthe input of alphabet letters of U and I by one hand's forefinger, analphabet letter of E by the one hand's middle finger, an alphabet letterof O by the one hand's fourth finger, an alphabet letter of A by the onehand's little finger.
 197. The cell phone according to any one of claims186 or 187, characterized in that: the cell phone has, along the longedge line of side face, keys arranged in two columns, the cell phonehas, on one column on one side face, keys for inputting alphabet lettersof UIEOA which are arranged in a sequential order, the keys can be usedfor the input of alphabet letters of U and I by one hand's forefinger,an alphabet letter of E by the one hand's middle finger, an alphabetletter of O by the one hand's fourth finger, and an alphabet letter of Aby the one hand's little finger, the cell phone has, on one column onthe side face or the other side face, keys for inputting alphabetletters of RHTNS which are arranged in a sequential order, and the keyscan be used for the input of alphabet letters of R and H by the otherhand's forefinger, an alphabet letter of T by the other hand's middlefinger, an alphabet letter of N by the other hand's fourth finger, andan alphabet letter of S by the other hand's little finger.
 198. The cellphone according to any one of claims 186 or 187, characterized in that:the cell phone has, along the longitudinal direction of a side face,keys arranged in two columns, keys in one column which are arranged in asequential order on one side face of the keys for twenty-six alphabetletters are allocated with alphabet letters of UIEOA and other keys inone column which are arranged in a sequential order are allocated withalphabet letters of XVJZQ, the keys can be used for the input ofalphabet letters of U, I, X and V by one hand forefinger, alphabetletters of E and J by a middle finger, alphabet letters of O and Z by afourth finger, and alphabet letters of A and Q by a little finger, keysin one column on the side face or the other side face which are arrangedin a sequential order are allocated with alphabet letters of RHTNS andkeys in another one column which are arranged in a sequential order areallocated with alphabet letters of GMFYB, the keys can be used for theinput of alphabet letters of R, H, G, and M by the other hand'sforefinger, alphabet letters of T and F by a middle finger, alphabetletters of N and Y by a fourth finger, and alphabet letters of S and Bby a little finger, and keys in one column which are arranged in asequential order on the side face or the other side face are allocatedwith alphabet letters of DLC, keys in another column which are arrangedin a sequential order are allocated with alphabet letters of KWP,thereby allowing one hand thumb to input letters to the cell phone. 199.A cell phone having a main body having a substantially rectangularparallelepiped shape for providing a faster letter input to a cellphone, both faces of the main body having narrower widths including thelongest edge line being provided with letter input means, wherein: twoof upper and lower housings are connected via a pivot, only duringletters are inputted, the angle taken by the upper housing and the lowerhousing is fixed at predetermined one angle or a few or successiveangles so that the upper housing is twisted to the lower housing,thereby providing the letter input at hand positions which reduce afatigue of both hands cell phone, the cell phone is held by both handsand the thumbs and the respective remaining four fingers of both handssandwich the cell phone, a main body of the cell phone is held by bothhands without being placed on a desk or knees, the letter input meansprovided at the upper housing is operated only by one hand, and theletter input means provided at the lower housing is operated only by theother hand, the upper and lower housings are provided in theupper-to-lower direction to a user's face so that ten fingers of bothhands are always placed at the home positions of the letter input means,any one or the simultaneous input of a plurality of fingers of the tenfingers can be used at an arbitrary timing to the letter input means,and a single key pushing operation by any one finger of the fingers ofboth hands except for one hand thumb can also provide, without theswitching of conditions such as a shift key, the input of any one letterof at least twenty-six alphabet letters or at least twenty-six lettersof other kinds.
 200. The cell phone according to any one of claims 180to 187, wherein: one set of two-way joy keys or one set of two-way joysticks are used instead of neighboring two keys, and one set of two-wayjoy keys and one key are used instead of neighboring three keys.